Iranian memorial message: Rise Up!

• IRIB: Delegations from around 100 countries (that is half the countries in the world!) are gathering to pay respect and the delegations are walking in one by one to say goodbye. Most of all, we see solidarity. The formal theme is Rise Up! Among them are also representatives from Islamic societies and groups from European countries such as Spain, but European leaders themselves were not invited. We say a heartfelt farewell, Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei.  Surveillance, repeated arrests, solitary confinement, torture, and exile failed to silence him. Instead, each hardship strengthened his resolve and deepened his connection with ordinary Iranians. 

• The 14-month old martyred granddaughter didn’t leave her grandpa, Imam Ali Khamenei, alone... Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani 🌹 

• Hadad Adel, father of the martyred wife of the current leader, warmly shook hands with everyone but didn't linger long with Prime Minister Araghchi (2nd to last on left). Many in Iran are upset with Araghchi's compromises with the US during negotiations. 

• According to reports, a passenger plane entered Sana’a Airport to transport a delegation of Yemenis, and possibly the political delegation of AnsarAllah, to Tehran to attend the funeral ceremony. Reportedly, two Saudi fighter jets intended to bomb the runway to prevent the plane from landing or taking off. The operation was stopped first after a Yemeni army air-defense missile was fired, and then after AnsarAllah officials threatened a missile attack on Riyadh. The plane eventually flew from Sana’a toward Iran.

• Today, 38 yrs ago, the US shot down an Iranian passenger plane killing all 290 people onboard. The USS Vincennes, in 1988, shot down the Iranian civilian airplane over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, killing all 290, including 66 children & 16 women. The Navy warship's captain got a medal. Despite the significant loss of life, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush famously stated, "I will never apologize for the US."  Investigations into this action of terror were perceived as inadequate. This has contributed to horrible US-Iran relations and remains a sensitive topic in discussions about military engagement and civilian safety in conflict zones.  

• July 3 marks 1,000 days since the beginning of Israel’s siege and military campaign in Gaza. For 1,000 days, healthcare workers, teachers, humanitarian workers, faith leaders, and families have struggled to preserve life under unimaginable conditions. More than one million children remain under siege; at least 20,179 children have been killed, one child every hour for 1,000 days. More than 1,700 healthcare workers have lost their lives, and hundreds of healthcare professionals have been detained, including 18 physicians who remain imprisoned under reported conditions of torture.

• Japan is considering to buy oil from Iran. Three Japanese buyers are currently negotiating with Iran to purchase crude oil. If this materializes, it will be the first time since 2019.
• FIFA president (on left) at the USA verses Bosnia game with Howard Lutnick, Epstein’s neighbor and good friend. This man lied about going to the Island with his children. Lutnick is also Trump's Secretary of Commerce. If you ever wondered who’s pulling the strings.... You can better understand why FIFA treated the Iranian football team like shite. FIFA needs to throw the trash out!

• The Wall Street Journal claims the US offered Iran a proposal to release frozen funds in exchange for Iran fully opening the Strait of Hormoz without imposing any transit fees. Currently, Iran has rejected this proposal.
• Lithuania now follows Finland as it opens its borders to US and French nuclear weapons aimed at Russia. What would the US do if Russia deployed nuclear weapons in Canada and/or Mexico?
• Outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, protesters demanding the shutdown of the immigration jail have been met with tear gas and pepper spray. Inside, during the late-June 2026 heat wave, temperatures hit 102 degrees while at least one unit had no air conditioning. People held there have reported rotten food and medical neglect. The GEO Group, the private prison corporation that runs Delaney Hall, holds a $1 billion contract to provide 1,000 beds there over 15 years. That works out to about $180 per bed, per day — collected whether or not the air conditioning runs or the food is fit to eat. In the last five days of June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized more than 10,000 people across the country to fill cages like these. This is the USA today. What happened to justice and freedom?

• United National Antiwar Coalition: The US government’s pretense of friendship to Venezuela rings hollow, after years of US sanctions and military aggression have caused several tens of thousands of deaths. US assistance for reconstruction will be paltry compared to the massive heist it has perpetrated against the country through assets theft and sanctions. What Venezuela needs for post-earthquake reconstruction is the return of the billions of dollars the US government and its allies have stolen.

• Balkans political scientist Biljana Vankovska writes: These are difficult times for anyone who has consistently criticised NATO. From the era of “defending the Free World” against communism, through the age of “humanitarian intervention” and the “Global War on Terror,” to today’s supposedly existential struggle against almost the entire non-Western world, the Alliance has repeatedly reinvented the narratives that justify its existence. The language changes; the underlying logic does not. NATO remains indispensable, and every new enemy (whether discovered, exaggerated, or actively produced) becomes further proof of its necessity. For decades, critics coming from anti-militarist, anti-hegemonic or left perspectives had to work hard to deconstruct this mythology against the combined efforts of political elites, mainstream media, academic institutions, [many liberals] and security experts. The intellectual task itself was never particularly difficult. The contradictions, hypocrisies and devastating consequences of NATO’s interventions have remained visible long after the bombs stopped falling. What required courage was speaking against the prevailing consensus. 

 Demonstrators chant slogans and raise placards, during an anti-NATO protest in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, 27 June 2026, days ahead of the NATO summit scheduled to be held in Ankara on 7 to 8 July. Photo credit: Khalil Hamra