The Headlines - Officials Share New Analysis of Iran Strike, and Zohran Mamdani Talks Next Steps

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Plus, Jeff Bezos’ contentious wedding in Venice. On Today’s Episode:In New Assessment, C.I.A. Chief Says U.S. Strikes ‘Severely Damaged’ Iranian Program, by Julian E. Barnes, Mark Mazzetti and Maggie HabermanSupreme Leader’s Absence Raises Alarm in Iran, by Farnaz FassihiMamdani Reflects on His Astonishing Rise and the Challenges Ahead, by Emma G. FitzsimmonsWhat to Know About the Antigovernment Protests in Kenya, by Pranav BaskarWith Bezos Wedding, Venice Braces for Love in the Time of Tech Billionaires, by Emma BubolaTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis. Today's Thursday, June 26th. Here's what we're covering. President Trump is aggressively defending his assessment of the damage caused by U.S. Obliterated. Yeah, well, there are numerous of those reports and they're coming out fast and furious. President Trump is aggressively defending his assessment of the damage caused by U.S. strikes to Iran's nuclear program, even as questions swirl about whether he's exaggerated their impact.

No, the site was obliterated, just like I said it was, and just like the pilots should be given credit for. At the center of those questions is Trump's repeated claim that the nuclear facilities were, quote, obliterated on Saturday, a description that no intelligence official has directly echoed. An initial Pentagon report, based on preliminary information collected just after the strikes, suggested that Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon was only delayed by a few months. Since then, intelligence officials have continued to gather more information.

On Wednesday, the CIA director put out a new statement, saying the nuclear program was quote severely damaged and delayed by years. And the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, posted a similar assessment on social media. In an appearance alongside the president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered his own analysis of the attack. This was complete and total obliteration. They're in bad shape. He argued that because the U.S. hit a key facility, which converts nuclear fuel into the form needed to make a weapon, the entire nuclear program was dealt a significant blow.

We can't even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. We can't even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It's gone. a significant blow. Still international inspectors indicated that Iran had been able to move its stockpile of enriched uranium before the strikes, and it remains unclear if Iran has other secret nuclear facilities that it can turn to now. Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has made his first public comments since the US attack and the ceasefire his country agreed to with Israel. In defiant remarks published on state media, he congratulated the Iranian people for what he described as a victory over Israel and the US.

His days-long silence had unnerved many Iranians, some of whom wondered whether or not he was even alive. Iranian officials previously told the Times he'd been hiding in a secret bunker to avoid any potential assassination attempts. In New York City… Congratulations. Thank you for doing this interview. You are very, very welcome. How many hours of sleep did you get?

Around four hours. Shortly, after declaring victory in the Democratic primary for mayor this week, Zoran Mamdani spoke to Times reporter Emma Fitzsimmons about his populist vision for New York and the campaign to come. So you think you can grow this tent of support that you got last night? I think last night is just a glimpse of what this coalition could look like. Mamdani, a state assemblyman and democratic socialist, built his apparent victory on an energetic campaign focused on affordability.

He wants to make buses free, create city-owned grocery stores, and raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations. Promises I have made are the ones that I will keep. And what we have seen in last night's election is that this is a popular mandate from New Yorkers to deliver a city that they can afford. His ambitious progressive platform earned both support from Democratic voters across racial and economic backgrounds and backlash from pro-business groups.

On Wednesday, one of the city's largest landlords said, quote, you want to have leadership that speaks to what New York is. It's the capital of capitalism. Beyond New York, some Democratic strategists see Mamdani's success as a possible blueprint for other Democrats around the country. For example, his casual, quirky videos were a contrast to Kamala Harris's presidential messaging, which many voters said came across as too cautious and scripted. But it remains to be seen how fully the party will embrace Mamdani's campaign.

Congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries, both New Yorkers, called to congratulate him, but stopped short of an immediate endorsement. In Nairobi, Kenya, at least eight people were killed and hundreds were injured on Wednesday, as police fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and live rounds at anti-government protesters. The demonstrators were marking the one-year anniversary of protests that had also turned violent, when Kenyans took to the streets and stormed parliament to criticize a contentious tax plan. In the wake of those marches which left 60 people dead, the Kenyan government carried out a harsh crackdown, abducting, interrogating, and torturing dozens of people, according

to activists and lawyers. Ahead of this year's march, officials directed all TV and radio stations to stop live coverage of the protests, and access to the messaging app Telegram was restricted in the country. The protests underscore a growing political crisis for Kenya's president, William Ruto. He was elected in 2022 on promises to uplift the poor, but critics say he's fallen short on his pledges and have condemned his increasingly heavy-handed suppression of dissent. And finally, a small parade of private jets and super yachts is arriving in Venice this week for a wedding event that's attracting both a crush of paparazzi and controversy. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, one of the world's richest men, is set to marry his fiancee,

former TV reporter Lauren Sanchez. Ahead of the festivities, the couple threw a foam party on Bezos' $500 million yacht, and influencers, rappers, pop stars, and figures like Ivanka Trump are expected to attend the Italian wedding, which has been kept tightly under wraps. Venice has hosted a lot of high-profile events. It hosted the G7, but also celebrity weddings like the George and Amal Clooney wedding about 10 years ago. But this wedding has been particularly divisive here. My colleague Emma Bubila is in Venice.

She says city officials are thrilled that Bezos and Sanchez chose the city for the party. They say it'll bring in millions of euros, and the couple has said they'll give money to local charities. But the whole hoopla has also set off anger. Demonstrators have unfurled banners protesting the wedding and adopted the slogan, No Space for Bezos. Some have even threatened to sabotage the events. There are different reasons why some Venetians are upset.

The main one and the deepest one has to do with Venice's identity. Venice was a city that had this incredibly intense economic activity that was built by merchants and bankers and nobles, but now has lost many of its residents, especially in recent years. And many here are afraid that their city is being reduced to just being this shimmering background for the photos of tourists and of rich people. And they felt that this wedding was the most blatant embodiment of this tension that Venetians live every day. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, the fallout from the billions of dollars in cuts

the Trump administration has made to scientific research. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Will Jarvis. The headlines will be back tomorrow.