Global News Podcast - US retaliatory strikes against Iran

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

The US has said that it's completed a series of strikes against Iran which targeted air defence systems, ground control stations and radar sites following the downing of an American helicopter. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said they hit back with strikes on US bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. Also, France has said that it will ban Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, from entering the country because the far right politician has been actively promoting the annexation of Palestinian territories. Anti-immigration violence breaks out in Northern Ireland after a man from Sudan has been charged with attempted murder. Barcelona celebrates the life of the Sagrada Família architect, Antoni Gaudi, with events which include a mass and ceremonial blessing by Pope Leo. And scientists in Finland have discovered that bumblebees have impressive problem solving skills.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail] Photo: Iranian missiles displayed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC) Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran, Iran. Credit: Reuters​

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Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Wednesday, June the 10th, these are our main stories. The United States has carried out strikes on Iran in response to the downing of an American helicopter. Iranian forces say they've retaliated by targeting US bases in the region. The Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich is banned from entering France over violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Also in this podcast. Many of the books were probably sold already somewhere in Moscow or online auctions.

The gang that managed to steal rare editions of Russian literary classics from libraries all over Europe. There's been a tit-fat, exchange of striking. between the US and Iran in the Middle East, once again endangering their fragile ceasefire. The US Central Command said it had attacked Iranian targets close to the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump accused Tehran of shooting down an American Apache helicopter on Tuesday. Iran has responded by firing missiles and drones at US bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. Iranian State TV quoted a statement posted on social media by the country's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, saying Iran's armed forces will leave no attack unanswered.

Diplomasi to talk to other languages, we prefer diplomacy, but we also know how to speak other languages, says Mr. Aragchi's statement. Our North America correspondent Peter Bowes gave me this update. Iran was very quick to launch retaliatory attacks after the United States launched its own series of attacks over the last few hours. And according to Iran, it's state medium, it launched drone and long-range missile strikes targeting American bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. And according to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, they say that they are ready to deliver a, quote, crushing and decisive response to any further U.S. attacks. And this clearly is the most serious escalation. of hostilities now between Washington and Tehran

since the truce was agreed between them some two months ago. The US military had said earlier that they had completed their attacks. Is there now a danger of further escalation? I think given the tense nature of the situation, there is clearly a danger of escalation. I think there was a view at one point a few hours ago,

and maybe that will still prevail, that this could be contained within, roughly 24-hour period that the US would hit back. It believes in response to the downing of that American helicopter on Monday. And it has certainly done that. And in fact, I've got the statement in front of me saying that the US has indeed completed its strikes in response to, as it puts it, Iran's attack on the Apache helicopter. And it lists what it sees as its achievements in this attack striking Iranian. Air Defence, ground control stations, surveillance, radar sites near the Strad of Hormuz,

with it says, precision munitions from US Air Force and Navy fighter jets. And it finishes with this line, which really goes to your question. It says US forces remain vigilant and postured to defend against, as it puts it, unjustified Iranian aggression. The Iranians appear to be aiming at US military targets rather than civilian ones in the region. Is that going to make a difference? It could make a difference in the same way as the United States has been targeting Iranian military sites as opposed to political sites, the country's leadership, as it did at the height of the war. So this does appear to be both countries attacking the other's military sites, which does suggest that this may be containable, that it isn't the kind of serious of attacks that is going to have further political repercussions.

and it could well be held within this period of 24 hours. And I think that will give some people hope, especially those negotiators on both sides that are putting a lot of hope in the series of talks that we've been hearing about, but actually not getting much detail, although President Trump very recently said that he believed that there could actually be a deal

in the next three to four days. We've heard him say that before. He's saying it again. Now, it does show that he wants diplomacy. It seems the Iranians want diplomacy. but I think it's fair to say this ceasefire looks increasingly fragile. Peter Bowes in Los Angeles. With his thoughts on the decision President Trump faces,

here's our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. The downing of the Apache helicopter is another reminder that Iran's rulers can still hurt the Americans and will not budge in their determination to come out of this war on top. President Trump and his generals will try to calibrate their response to show just as emphatically that they cannot be pushed around, but at the same time to preserve the sluggish and so far unproductive diplomatic

process. Donald Trump has been banking on a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Ormuse and agree on much longer term talks over the big issues, starting with Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and its wider nuclear plans. The war is unpopular in America and he wants a way out that he can present as a victory. It is proving to be a tough challenge. Military action, rarely unfolds as leaders expect. The Gulf remains tense, dangerous and unpredictable. Mr Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are learning an old lesson. It is easier to start a war than to end one, let alone deliver a clear victory. Jeremy Bowen in Beirut. Britain, France and Canada are among countries which have imposed

sanctions on what they call networks involved in financing and enabling Jewish settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. France has also barred the Israeli finance minister Bezal Smotrich from entering the country. The Israeli government has said it's rejected what it called disgraceful measures. And Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher reports from Jerusalem. Essentially it's saying that Mr Smotridge is promoting the annexation of a West Bank and the recolonisation of Gaza. I mean, he belongs to a far-right party.

He and the National Security Minister here, Itima Ben-Gavir, are really the leaders of that vein of Israeli political influence and power, who are pushing very hard, essentially, the settler cause. And in this particular coalition government, they have had a large say. So partly due to their roles in that government, there's been expansion of the settlements, I think it's not just to do them, obviously, in any way, but there's also been a considerable increase in settler violence.

That, I think, is to some extent down, of course, as so many things are here, to the aftermath of the Hamasad attacks on October the 7th, 2023. I mean, France is not the only country to have barred Mr Smotridge. Several other countries have done so for the same reasons. And the same also applies to Mr. Ben-Gavir just last week. Ireland said that both of them were banned. And so it's a kind of concerted move by European allies to show that they believe that the course that these two political leaders here in Israel would like to lead Israel on is one that they are very much opposed to and would like to make that clear diplomatically. In terms of what impact it will have on them, I think obviously that is pretty limited.

What impact it will have on the way they're regarded in Israel, I think won't change. Those who support them will continue to do so. those who don't will continue to do that. This comes also as other measures are being announced in Europe and also Australia and Canada, along with the UK, other sanctions on entities which they say have helped finance and enable Settler advance. This, as I say, is a concerted effort by a number of countries, all of which have traditionally been pretty close to Israel to show their displeasure with the way that things are going at the moment here. Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem.

After a four-year investigation, the trial of a gang of thieves from Georgia is now underway in Paris. The suspects are charged with stealing rare editions of Russian literary masterpieces from libraries all over Europe. Nina Nazarova from the BBC Russian service told Tim Franks about the alleged plot to steal these masterpieces. Men swapped mainly the first edition of what's called Russian Golden Era. with forced copies. So in some cases, it took more than a year to notice that something was wrong with the copies. At least one of the person already convicted for the crimes is actually cooperating with the investigation now in France. He used to be book restorer in Georgia, so he told me personally that he was like a sorcerer with the books. However, he denied that he made any of the copies, but he had a great experience with restoring and working with old books.

And presumably, there was a market for this. And was this market for this? market deemed to be back in Russia? Yes, we have clues that the market was back in Russia because another convicted person, Mikhail Zed, who is also actively cooperated with the court in France, admitted that he was doing crimes on orders from Moscow, and he personally received $30,000 in cryptocurrency for stealing books from a Lithuanian library.

Have any of these books been recovered? Some of the books were recovered by Europol, but none were returned to the libraries. And many of the books were probably sold already somewhere in Moscow or online auctions in Moscow. Is it clear why this team went after books? I mean, it sounds sort of quite fiddly. Was it to do with the security in these libraries? Yes, actually the person I interviewed back at tea, he was talking theoretically,

but he told me that it was way easier to steal a book worth thousands of thousands of dollars than, for instance, any jewelry or a piece of gold. because a piece of gold is guarded by men with guns and the old book of the same value guarded by an old lady librarian. That was Nina Nazarova from the BBC Russian service. Still to come in this podcast. Think about how many spacecraft,

all of which will eventually carry human beings, will be in orbit at the same time. From dragon, Shenzu, Soyuz, possibly Starliner, starship, and Blue Origin landers. This seems like the beginning of the, future that we imagined as children. Not quite over the moon. Nasser names the astronauts who'll take part in the next Artemis mission.

What do Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney? YouTube megastar, Mr. Beast. And former Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg all have in common. They're all being discussed in the new season of Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast which explores the lives and fortunes of the world's super rich. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, search for Good Bad Billionaire, wherever you get your BBC podcast. This is the Global News podcast.

Here in the UK, a knife attack by a refugee from Sudan has sparked violence by anti-immigration protesters in Northern Ireland. The disorder in Belfast on Tuesday night followed the attack a day earlier. The victim, a man, is in hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, neck and back. The Sudanese man is due in court later on Wednesday, charged with attempted murder. She was given a five-year refugee visa after arriving in the UK from Ireland in 2023. The subsequent disorder meant people had to flee their homes as they were set on fire along with vehicles. Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelli condemned the violence but understood why people were angry. People want to have a conversation about immigration.

I think communities are very concerned about what is happening. No community wants a dangerous person living within their community. And I do think that people are very frightened about that. That is an entirely separate debate. And I think what we're seeing very often is that frustration from people that their genuinely held concerns are not taken seriously and there's not the action to follow up to take those issues seriously. Other political leaders have called for calm

and the streets of Belfast are now mainly quiet. But earlier, Dan Johnson, sent this report from the city. This is Newton-Ards Road just south of Belfast City Centre. This is where there was quite a large crowd earlier of maybe 100, 150 people gathered here for a couple of hours in protest. Lots of them, young people with masks or balaclavas, they pushed bins together that were then set on fire.

And that actually, a bus that had to stop in the middle of the road because of the traffic being blocked, that bus actually caught fire. Just around the corner from here, we've just heard that a... House of multiple occupancy, essentially a house that's been converted to flats, has been targeted by a crowd who tried to set that on fire. We've seen pictures of the fire service and police officers actually bringing families out of those buildings through the flames to safety. So there is a real risk to life on the streets this evening.

The police, the authorities all day long have been calling for calm, have been calling for people not to gather or to protest in peace. And although we have seen that in some places, what we are seeing is that there is damage. There is destruction. There has been property that has been burned, and there has been a threat to life in some places. The violence in Northern Ireland follows trouble in the city of Southampton in England last week. Arrests were made there after police were criticised for handcuffing a dying white man who'd been stabbed by a Sikh man.

He wasn't an immigrant, but he was born in Britain. He had falsely accused his victim of racism. The arrest was filmed and widely viewed online. I asked our UK political correspondent, Rob Watson, why immigration is such a hot-button issue in the UK? Well, I think it's a fever pitch because we've now had two videos showing truly graphic violence. And I think you can't understate how important it is that these dreadful videos have been seen by so many people. Not just in Britain, by the way, Alex, but around the world. And it's very hard to see these videos without having a strong reaction of horror, sadness.

anger, depending, of course, on the kind of person you are. And so what that has done is that it sort of brought this simmering concern about immigration and social cohesion very much to the fore. And it is extraordinary that before these two videos even, if you look at the polling, it does strongly suggest that concern about immigration, not just illegal immigration or about refugees or asylum seekers, is actually now a more important issue for British voters. than even the economy, which is pretty extraordinary. Yeah, I mean, talking of strong reactions, how's the Prime Minister and the Labour government in London taking this?

The government in London is stressing the need for calm and saying, look, it's just not going to do anyone any good. You could feel strongly about the issue of immigration, but going out and trashing things is not the way to do it. Let the police do their work. But, of course, you do have politicians, particularly those more on the populist right, if I could put it that way, saying that, look, something is going to have to be done about immigration.

And there was one politician from Northern Ireland very much on the right of Northern Irish politics, who talked about the importing of an alien culture into Northern Ireland and that that kind of thing had to stop. So feelings are clearly running very, very high indeed. The sort of thrust of what the government is trying to do is to calm things down. Yeah, you mentioned the video of the Henry Novak case last week. Just how dangerous a moment is this for the UK? Well, I think the view of the government and of the police is that it's a very dangerous moment indeed

because we had seen riots before a couple of summers ago and feelings are just running very high about the issue of immigration and social cohesion. Because if you broaden it out into that question of social cohesion, Again, the polling suggests that, you know, well over half the population just think we're not getting along properly in Britain. So this is not some sort of superficial issue. It's something that really goes to the heart of British politics. And there is that sort of sense. And I think, again, the graphic nature of these videos hammer home something, which social scientists points to,

which is that sense amongst some people, at least, of just not having any control over their lives, of looking at incidents like this and feeling helpless and feeling angry. And of course, there are certainly those on what might be called the sort of far right of the spectrum who are prepared to take that one step further and to countenance violence. Rob Watson. Anthony Gowdy was a famous Catalan architect and designer who died 100 years ago today. He was driven by his passion for architecture, nature and religion, and seven of his works have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites,

including Park Guell, Casamila, and his masterpiece, the Sagada Familiar, which are in Barcelona in Spain. The latter is now structurally complete and will be declared finished as part of the centenary celebrations, although it does still need some work. Barcelona will celebrate the life of Anthony Gowdy with several events, including a mass and ceremonial blessing by Pope Leo, and the London for Harmonic will perform a new musical work in his honour.

It's called The Seven Dreams of Gaudi and will be conducted by the American maestro Marin Alsop who's been telling Evan Davis more about it. The Seven Dreams of Gowdy represent the different stages of his life, not only as an artist but also as a spiritual person searching for, as we all are, for the meaning of life. And so they all explore different facets of his experience, his imagination, his creative output. It's sort of an oratorio-like piece. So it's got choirs, soloist, it's got big orchestra,

and also these fantastic bells. Gowdy left plans to construct 84 bells. And so far, three of them have been created. So it's got a little bit of something for everyone. Would someone listening to it, Marion, would they think of it as gaudy-like? I mean, Gaudy's got all these wonderfully imaginative creations. Is it Gaudy-esque? The music? Can music be Gaudi-esque? I think it captures much more the espree, the spirit of Gaudi. He was a very spiritual person.

He was very in touch with nature and the natural world around him. And, you know, his background, the fact that his father was, was a blacksmith and created things out of different kinds of metals. So there's always these anvils that are played in the orchestra. Is there a real buzz in Barcelona at the moment over this 100th anniversary of his death? But also it's not absolutely finished, is it, the Sagrada familiar, but all the structural work is finished. It is this sort of official opening.

I think that's sort of the magic of this place is that even when it's finished, it won't be finished. You know what I mean? You know, in comparative terms, a guide showed us some pictures from the late 90s. And I mean, it's so much more completed than it was then. You know, we forget. I think the most important thing is to celebrate Gowdy as a creator, as an artist. And of course, the Pope is going to be here in Barcelona. And I think Gowdy is under consideration even for some.

sainthood. So, you know, it's pretty exciting for everyone. American conductor, Marin, Alsop. NASA says the next stage of its mission to the moon will be another bold step and the beginning of the future. The American Space Agency has named the four astronauts will be taking part in the Artemis 3 mission, which is due to launch next year. Unlike the crew of Artemis 2 who took a trip around the moon, those on board are. Artemis 3 will barely be any further from Earth than the International Space Station. Here's our science correspondent, Palab Ghosh.

After the triumph of Artemis 2 looping the moon in April, the follow-up mission will send astronauts on an orbit of the Earth. It seems like a backward step, but it's supposed to be a way forward to an eventual moon landing in 2028. The Orion spacecraft will aim to dock with two prototype lunar landers, made by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and then Elon Musk's SpaceX. NASA announced an all-male crew for the mission. They are Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, Luca Parmentino,

who's a European Space Agency astronaut, and commanded by an ex-marine, Randy Bresnick. The head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, told a news conference that science fact was catching up with science fiction. Think about how many spacecraft, all of which will eventually carry human beings, beings will be in orbit at the same time, from dragon, Shenzhou, Soyuz, possibly Starliner, Starship, and Blue Origin landers. This seems like the beginning of the future that we imagined as children. This seems like the very beginning of Earth's first star fleet to me.

Artemis 3 was supposed to have been the mission that sent astronauts to the moon, but Isaacman changed the plan in February. This is partly due to delays to the development of both lunar landers. A problem made much worse by the explosion last month at Blue Orroman. Origin's launch pad, which is the only means for Blue Origins lander to be sent into space. So there's much skepticism that the Artemis 3 mission will be ready for launch next year. But the message from spokespeople from both SpaceX and Blue Origin was the same. Don't worry. We'll be ready. Al-Ab Ghosh.

Finally to Finland, where a group of scientists have made a surprising discovery about bumblebees. In an experiment, the bees were found to have impressive problems. solving skills. The researchers say the findings published in the journal Science suggests the insects may be much smarter than they've been given credit for. Helena Burke has the details. In 1913, the German psychologist Wolfgang Kula conducted what came to be considered a seminal study in animal intelligence. He suspended a banana just out of reach of chimpanzees and placed boxes nearby. The chimps soon stacked up the boxes, climbed them and grabbed the

treat. This was evidence, Dr Kula believed, of complex problem solving by the primates. More than a century on, Dr. Oli Lokoala, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Ulu in Finland, wondered whether bumblebees, with brains the size of a sesame seed, might be capable of the same task. First, we trained the bees to know that blue artificial flower contains sugar water. Then we moved the flower to the ceiling just out of reach. And to solve the problem, the bee had to move a small ball under the flower, climb onto the ball, and then they could reach the flower. The scientists designed the experiment to ensure that the insects couldn't just fly and make

a bee line for the sugar water. They had to move the styrofoam ball to get their treat. The trick was that the arena was a little bit too tiny for them to fly. So we're going to plan so that the arena ceiling was so low that they couldn't fly, but it was a little bit too high for them to stand and reach the ceiling. Dr. La Cola had previously taught bees how to play football, so his hopes for their cognitive abilities were higher than most. But the results surprised even him.

Most of the bees that we tested, they solved the task. I was surprised because I was expecting something like 10% or 15% max, but more than 70% I was like mind-blowed. Dr. LeCola hopes the findings will help people see bees as more cognitively and emotionally complex beings. These are able to solve this task without any direct training, so it means that they must have a goal in their mind, so their behavior is goal directed. It means that they are actually planning what they are doing next. This shows that intelligence comes in many forms, and we shouldn't expect bee intelligence to look exactly like human intelligence,

but these results show that very small brain can still support flexible and goal-directed problem solving. Dr. Olli Locoa ending that report by his report. Elena Burke. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sibling podcast, the global story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story.

This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Holly Smith and produced by Muzaffa Shakir and Wendy Urquhart. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye. What do Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney? YouTube megastar, Mr. Beast. And former Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg all have in common.

They're all being discussed in the new season of Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast which explores the lives and fortunes of the world's super rich. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, search for Good Bad Billionaire, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.