Trump: 'I thought Iranians hated Khamenei'

• Marwa Osman: “Please remember that you are not attending a party, a carnival, or a cultural festival. You are witnessing one of the most sacred and emotionally profound moments in the lives of millions.” So far, Tasnim, Al-Jazeera and Al-Mayadeen had investigative journalists on the scene and all report that the funeral ceremony for Ayatollah Khamenei is officially the largest in recorded history. 

• Two Iranian security officers held a flag above the head of an elderly woman who suffered from heatstroke during the farewell ceremony for the martyred Leader of Iran. Picture was taken by bystanders and not official media. 

• The quiet corners of today’s funeral ceremony for Martyr Imam Khamenei, moments you may not have seen. The little rests between long marches under the 40°C sun. The little moments the people shared with their children. The exhaustion, the love, the grief. A moment to soak in what we’ve witnessed these past couple of months….

• Trump to Axios: 'I was shocked to see Iranians crying at Khamenei’s funeral, as I thought people hated him.'

• Simplicius: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently ousted 'rising star' General Christopher Donahue, Commanding General of US Army Europe and Africa, in what some people considered part of the ongoing purge of top general staff for the sake of total party loyalty. Some suspect Trump is aiming for another round of war with Iran after the end of the current memorial events in Tehran. It’s clear that the US is now biding its time to resupply its stations in the Mideast before potentially embarking—at the least—on more strikes. In light of this, there are some unverified reports from “anonymous sources in Iran” that Iran is even considering preemptive attacks on Israel for such a contingency, because Iranian leaders are tired of playing the militarily passive-reactive role.

• For the US, which just celebrated its 250th birthday, the atmosphere this year is far from celebratory. The smoke of the war against Iran has not only impacted the global economy and disrupted international order but has also caused the major pillars of American economic hegemony to shake simultaneously. Scholars have noted that US economic hegemony rests on five pillars: economic strength, dollar hegemony, military hegemony, political hegemony and rule hegemony. For years, the major pillars of American economic hegemony have been steadily loosening under America's domestic and foreign policies. The war against Iran has merely thrust this structural decline into the spotlight. How much longer the US can sustain its economic hegemony has become a topic of ongoing heated discussion in global public opinion.

• Lakota People’s Law Project: This past week marks the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling that the US illegally took the Black Hills (He Sapa) in South Dakota calling it "the rankest and ripest example of dishonesty in the history of the United States." The court awarding $106 million for our sacred land was an insult to our injury, an offer we have always refused. Fools Crow answered: 'You must think I am a fool, to pay me with currency made from resources you stole from us. We are not fools.' For these 46 years since US v. Sioux Nation, our people have held firm: the Black Hills are sacred and not for sale. No price can pay for this land and the violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.

• Kit Klarenberg: On June 27th, a plane ferrying a “specialized” team of “highly trained search and rescue specialists” flew into Venezuela from Damascus. Dispatched at putative Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa’s direct order, the 15-strong group is assisting disaster efforts launched by Caracas in response to devastating twin earthquakes. Among them are members of the notorious White Helmets. A bogus humanitarian group constructed by MI6, they played a central role in Britain’s protracted coup of Bashar Assad. Are the White Helmets similarly in Venezuela to assist regime change?
• Space News: American missile defense requires global sensor architecture. Though the program is called Golden Dome for America, effectively detecting and tracking threats and then coordinating and enacting a response will require a distributed global network of sensors located in every domain. Right now, we need to defend North America, but at the same time, keep our sensors global because of the speed at which our adversaries can attack. 'Global access' is a necessary prerequisite for any manner of space-based detection and defense. 

• Samanth Subramanian: The tragedy of this space race is that it has left us unable to imagine or craft an alternative one. Because of course it’s essential for humans to know this universe that holds us, not only for what we will learn about the nature of matter, space, and time, but also for the genuine potential of this enterprise to unite us. Nothing about our recent record suggests that we’re even able to come together to combat threats that imperil us right this minute, let alone capable of forming world governments and moon cities that are just and free. If the future of humankind in space is to look any different from the state of humankind on Earth, it can’t be left, by default or out of despair, to the tech firms of Silicon Valley. We need other space programs, other agencies, other men and women to obsess over our role out among the stars. This won’t be easy, as Ariosto would no doubt say—but the moon shot will be worth it.

• FIFA, at the request of Trump, has overturned the red card that the American player received in the previous match. What the hell? Trump is single-handedly proving to the entire world that he’s a dictator. He's trying to rig the games in favor of the US! European soccer's governing body UEFA condemned the decision as "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable," the latest organization to criticize the reversal.

• US Africa Command on Sunday announced that its forces launched its 70th airstrike this year in Somalia as the Trump administration continues its record-shattering bombing campaign in the country. The command said that the strike was launched on July 3 and targeted al-Shabaab in the vicinity of Farsooley, a town about 55 miles west of Mogadishu. AFRICOM offered no further details after it stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments of potential civilian harm early last year.
• A sailing ship owned by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental organization was forced out of the Sail4th 250 parade in New York Harbor, the Coast Guard said in a statement emailed to Reuters. The ship had banners that read, Save the Clean Water Act and Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions. "The owner of the sloop Clearwater was contacted and requested to remove the message being displayed or be removed from the parade of sail," the Coast Guard said. "They declined to remove it." Jen Benson, director of advocacy and communications at Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, disputed the claim. She said the Coast Guard did not ask for the messages to be taken down, but requested the ship leave the sailing route or risk arrest. "We don't feel like advocating for clean water is a politically charged message," Benson said. "People on all sides of the aisle, and no sides at all, have been fighting in the US for clean water in different ways."