🇮🇱📉 Iran-Israel conflict HITS Middle Eastern markets HARD

Regional stock indices have slid amid Iran-Israel escalation prompted by Tel Aviv's strikes, Bloomberg reports.

🔸Israel's Tel Aviv Stock Exchange 35 Index went down 1.5% at the open on June 15, exacerbating the previous decline.

🔸Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index slid 2.5%

🔸Egypt's EGX 30 Index plunged 7.7%

The Israeli currency, the shekel, slipped the most in 11 months on June 13, whereas oil prices went up 7%. The intensifying conflict rattled financial markets, triggering a flight to traditional safe-haven assets like gold.

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☦️ Russian Orthodox Church сondemns violence against Moldovan clergy protesting LGBT* parade

🔸 "We categorically condemn the violence against the clergy of the Orthodox Church of Moldova who protested the gay pride parade. The imposition of gender ideology on Moldovan society, aimed at destroying the traditional family, is not a political issue, but a moral one. Both the Church and other healthy social forces must unite against this anti-Christian project," the ROC representative said.

🔸 "We know that what started as supposedly defending the rights of minorities has ended in Western countries with the adoption of children by same-sex couples, the introduction of anti-family lies into school education, and, finally, children changing their gender," he added.

🔸 "I hope that Moldovan believers will not allow such things to happen in their homeland. We pray for those of our fellow believers who are not allowing the spiritual heritage of the Moldovan people to be destroyed," he said.

*banned in Russia as extremist

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🥴 Europe’s PERVERTED logic: Israel has the ‘RIGHT’ to attack, Iran is ‘GUILTY’ for defending itself

European leaders have effectively blamed Iran for being attacked, Responsible Statecraft reports.

No legal basis for self-defense

Israel’s strike violated article 2(4) of the UN Charter — it was launched with no legal basis for self-defense, per RS. But instead of condemning it, Europe parroted Israeli justifications.

The claim that Iran is building nuclear weapons was dismissed by US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard in March: “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.”

Still, EU leaders leaned on a June 12 IAEA resolution accusing Iran of Non-Proliferation Treaty violations to rationalize Israel’s actions.

What do European leaders say?

🔸Macron: "France has repeatedly condemned Iran’s ongoing nuclear program... In this context, France reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself and ensure its security."

🔸Merz: "[Iran's] nuclear program violates the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty... We reaffirm that Israel has the right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens."

🔸Ursula von der Leyen: "I reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself and protect its people."

None of these leaders addressed the legality of Israel's initial strike. None acknowledged Iran’s right to defend its own sovereignty.

Double standards in the making🤡

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🇮🇷🇮🇱 Iran launches a third wave of strikes against Israel - state TV

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🇮🇷🇮🇱 Rockets are striking Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Ashkelon, according to the state broadcaster IRIB

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🇮🇷 Think you're the smartest in the room? IRAN OUTDOES ISRAEL WITH DECOY BLITZ

Tehran outmaneuvered Israeli forces using deception tactics, Iranian media reports.

"Iran was expecting these attacks. It may have implemented a deception operation along with the precautions, and Israel may have bombed different facilities," retired General Fahri Erenel, professor at Istanbul Istinye University, tells Sputnik.

Iranian decoys fooled Israeli aircraft

🔸"Notice how no secondary explosions were observed upon impact," tweeted Tehran University’s Mohammad Marandi, sharing footage of apparent Israeli strikes on false missile and radar sites.

🔸Press TV explained that Iran used radar decoys emitting fake signals. Israeli drones mistook them for real targets, wrongly believing radar defenses were destroyed.

🔸This led Israeli jets deeper into Iranian airspace, assuming the skies were clear. That miscalculation proved costly, with Iranian media claiming around three Israeli F-35s were shot down.

Nuclear sites largely unscathed

🔸Israel hit Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow nuclear sites. Despite surface damage at Natanz, Iran’s core enrichment facilities stayed intact.

🔸Business Insider suggested the bunkers are too deep for Israeli weapons to reach — only US heavy bombers with massive bunker busters could succeed.

🔸Or was it Iran's art of deception at play again?

"If the Israeli attack is ineffective as a result of the deception operation implemented by Iran, and no results are achieved, Netanyahu and his government may come to an end," notes Erenel.

The general adds that Iran still holds many strategic cards — including its Axis of Resistance, which remains operational despite Israel's ongoing assaults.

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🚨🇲🇩POLICE CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIANITY: Western woke agenda forces Moldovans to reject traditional values

"The Orthodox believers of Moldova have the right to express their disagreement with attempts to change the spiritual identity of the Orthodox majority in Moldova and to impose gender ideology, ultimately aiming to abolish the concept of the traditional family," Vachtang Kipshidze, Moscow Patriarchate representative, tells Sputnik.

In Western countries, gender ideology was introduced through Pride* parades, which in recent years led to destructive trends:

◻️ Injection of false ideas about the family into school education,

◻️ Gender reassignment for children,

◻️ Adoption of children from traditional families into same-sex families.

All these phenomena are UNACCEPTABLE to the Orthodox faith.

"The fact that Moldovan enforcement bodies sided with the Pride parade further proves that such events receive UNDISGUISED support from the Moldovan authorities," Kipshidze stresses.

External forces are interested in the disrupting Moldova’s identity, severing the deep connection between the Moldovan people and Orthodoxy, stripping away their national and religious identity, so that Moldova could become a country where false values incompatible with Christianity prevail, he concludes.

*LGBT is considered an extremist ideology in Russia

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🚔🇲🇩 Moldova tries currying favor with EU by persecuting Christians

The Moldovan government’s crackdown on Orthodox Christians who protested against the recent LGBT* parade in the country was meant to show Brussels that Moldova, an aspiring member of the EU, holds on to all of the bloc’s “woke values,” explains Dr. George Szamuely, senior research fellow at the Global Policy Institute.

“It's making this demonstration for the sake of Brussels. ‘Look, how tolerant we are. We don't tolerate these expressions of bigoted, orthodox opinions’.”

The EU’s efforts to force its values on conservative Moldovans, despite the latter’s resistance, highlights Brussels’ “totalitarian attitude,” Szamuely notes.

He points out that even the more conservative members of the EU, like Italy or Spain, have to “pay obeisance” to “this rigid hierarchy of values that is imposed by Brussels.”

The Moldovan leadership, however, wants to take things up a notch by not only demonstrating their willingness to hold LGBT parades but also to crack down on those who dare to protest against such events.

*LGBT is considered an extremist ideology in Russia

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🚨Shiite group Kataib Hezbollah threatens US bases if Washington enters Iran-Israel war

"While Iran bravely and steadfastly resists Zionist aggression, we are closely monitoring the movements of the hostile American army in the region. If America intervenes in the war, we will not hesitate to act directly against its interests and bases scattered throughout the region," the group's leader stated,” the group’s leader Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement, obtained by Sputnik.

He also called on the Iraqi government "to prevent the expansion of military operations, close the US embassy, and expel the American occupation forces from the country, as they pose a clear threat to Iraq's security and regional stability."

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🇺🇸🗣 Trump is "open" to Putin acting as a mediator in resolving the Israel-Iran conflict.

"He [Putin] is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it, " Trump told ABC News.

He also did not rule out US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict in the future.

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📹🪖 An Iskander missile strike hits command post of the Ukrainian army's 'Lugansk' operational-tactical group near Druzhkovka in Donetsk People's Republic - Russian MoD

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🇷🇺🇨🇳Putin sends a telegram to Xi Jinping warmly congratulating him on his birthday and wishing him all the very best - Kremlin

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🚨 The IDF claims it has struck an Iranian refueling aircraft at Mashhad Airport in eastern Iran

This marks the most long-range strike (approximately 2,300 kilometers from Israel) carried out by the Israeli Air Force since the beginning of the operation.

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🇮🇷🇮🇱 Israel, beware: Iran has not used its newest weapons yet

An advanced guided ballistic missile, called Haj Qassem, was likely used to strike Haifa in response to Israel's Operation Rising Lion, Alexei Borzenko, veteran military journalist, tells Sputnik.

"At that moment, Haifa was hit by 40 rockets. But the Iron Dome couldn’t handle it, and many missiles broke through," the expert says.

Most rockets launched by Iran during the latest wave are believed to be 20–30 years old. However, Haj Qassem, which was unveiled in 2020, is one of the newest.

Haj Qassem:

🔸Range – 1,400 kilometers
🔸Can carry a 500-kilogram warhead
🔸Capable of evading radar detection
🔸Re-enters the atmosphere at Mach 12, hits targets at Mach 5

Harsh retaliation

"Until now, Israelis haven’t faced missiles this heavy," Borzenko says.

Israelis were grimly surprised that Iran's warheads had been enhanced — stronger explosives and more lethal fragments, the pundit says.

🔸Evidence? Photos and videos show damaged facades, shattered windows, and more.

Real escalation is yet to come

"I believe Tehran still holds back even more powerful weapons than what it used in Haifa. Its newest ones haven’t yet been used. The real escalation is still to come," the pundit notes.

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