SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A comic calling Puerto Rico garbage before a packed Donald Trump rally in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment, residents said Monday in expressions of fury that could affect the presidential election.
Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, but they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is competing with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after stand-up comic Tony Hinchcliffe said that, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Puerto Rican reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny announced he was backing Harris.
Hinchcliffe's set also included lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election.
Milagros Serrano, 81, has a son who lives in the swing state of Pennsylvania and said the entire family was outraged by the comedian’s comments.
“He can’t be talking about Puerto Rico like that,” she said as she left for a medical appointment. “He’s the one who’s a piece of garbage."
Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1917, and the first large wave of migration occurred after World War II to ease labor shortages. There are now more Puerto Ricans in the U.S. than on the island.
Those who stayed behind say they often feel like second-class citizens because they can't vote in presidential elections and receive limited federal funding compared with U.S. states.
That festering resentment erupted when Trump visited Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria slammed into the island as a powerful Category 4 storm in 2017. He tossed paper towels into a crowd and denied the storm’s official death toll, with experts estimating that nearly 3,000 people died in the sweltering aftermath.
José Acevedo, a 48-year-old health worker from San Juan, shook his head as he recalled the feelings that coursed through him when he watched the Sunday rally.
“What humiliation, what discrimination!” he said early Monday as he waited to catch a public bus to work.
Acevedo said he immediately texted relatives in New York, including an uncle who is a Republican and had planned to vote for Trump.
“He told me that he was going to have to analyze his decision,” Acevedo said, adding that his relatives were in shock. “They couldn’t believe it.”
The comments dominated local news sites late into the night and prompted Jenniffer González, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and a Trump supporter, to call them “despicable, misguided and disgusting.”
“They do not represent the values of the GOP,” she said.
Politics in Puerto Rico are defined by the island’s political status, so it’s common to see Democrats and Republicans be members of the same local party.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat, wrote on Facebook: “Garbage is what came out of Tony Hinchcliffe’s mouth, and everyone who applauded him should feel ashamed for disrespecting Puerto Rico.”
González, who beat Pierluisi in their party's primary, is leading in the polls as the Nov. 5 election looms.
Sonia Pérez, a 58-year-old parking lot attendant, said she hasn’t voted for a governor in years but is so angry about the comedian’s comments and González’s support for Trump that she plans to reject González and the other candidate representing the two main parties that have long dominated in Puerto Rico.
“It is outrageous that in the 21st century there is so much racism against Latinos when we have contributed so much to the country and it is not recognized,” she said.
Hinchcliffe’s comments also prompted reaction from Puerto Rican stars including Ricky Martin, who previously endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He posted a video of the crude joke and wrote, “This is what they think of us.”
Outraged Puerto Ricans posted pictures of their island and its bright turquoise waters on social media with captions including: “I live where you vacation” and “Proud to be from the garbage island.”
Michael Meléndez Ortiz, a 33-year-old unemployed janitor, said he and a friend thought the video was fake at first because they were so taken aback by what the comedian said.
“We must be respected,” he said. “We are good and upstanding people.”
FILE - President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd at Calvary Chapel in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Oct. 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - An aerial view of the seaside neighborhood of La Perla, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is seen on Aug. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
FILE - A bronze statue of San Juan Bautista stands in front the Capitol building flanked by U.S. and Puerto Rican flags, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sept. 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
Tony Hinchcliffe speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Israel's military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in a raid on a hospital in northern Gaza over the weekend, while its warplanes on Monday sent plumes of smoke rising over the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre.
Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday, detaining 44 male staff, according to the World Health Organization. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which was treating some 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.
Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the yearlong war, saying Hamas and other militants use them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny those allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.
The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks. The U.N. said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the north has plummeted over the past month.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians, but say more than a half were women and children. The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the total toll over the past year there is over 2,600 killed and 12,200 wounded. The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, including more than 400,000 children, according to the United Nations children’s agency. Israeli strikes have killed much of Hezbollah’s top leadership since fighting ramped up in September.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Defense Ministry said Monday it has signed a $500 million deal to begin production of a laser interception system that can strike down incoming rockets, missiles and drones.
The Iron Beam will be produced by two Israeli companies and is expected to be ready in a year’s time, the ministry said.
Israel already has an elaborate, multilayered aerial defense system that relies on interceptors to strike down incoming missile fire and drones. But Israel has said the Iron Beam system will be a game changer because it would be much cheaper to operate than existing systems. It is expected to be operational within a year
The aerial defense array includes the Iron Dome, which intercepts short range missiles and drones, David’s Sling, which intercepts medium-range missiles, and The Arrow, which intercepts long-range ballistic missiles.
“The Iron Beam will complement the Iron Dome, and the combination of laser and missile interception will further strengthen our defense systems against rockets, missiles, UAVs, cruise missiles, and additional threats,” the ministry said.
The vast majority of missiles and drones fired at Israel during the ongoing Mideast wars have been intercepted. However, some have made it through and drones have become a particular challenge to shoot down.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported Monday that 38 people were killed and 124 wounded over the past 24 hours, bringing the total toll from a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel to 2,710 killed and 12,592 wounded. One quarter of those killed were women and children.
The highest number of casualties has been recorded in the South province, followed by Nabatiyeh, the Baalbeck region and Bekaa Valley.
The health ministry reported that over the past year, 2,041 men have been killed and 9,881 wounded. Women account for 532 fatalities and 2,351 injuries, while 157 children have been killed and 1,129 injured.
In the health care sector, the ministry said that 168 health workers have been killed, 232 wounded and 239 medical vehicles damaged since Oct. 8. Additionally, 79 medical and ambulatory centers have been affected, along with 38 hospitals.
On Monday, intense airstrikes have continued to pummel various villages across South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. In one case, two Israeli strikes killed six members of a single family in the town of Bodai in the Baalbeck province, according to the state-run National News Agency.
JERUSALEM — An airstrike on a street in central Gaza’s Nuseirat Refugee Camp killed 10 people and injured 20 others Monday, according to Palestinian health officials and Associated Press journalists.
The dead and injured were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, where they were counted by AP staff there.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
The latest deadly strike comes as Israeli forces intensify their operations across northern Gaza.
The war erupted on Oct. 7. last year when Hamas militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel and killed some 1, 200 people. Israel responded by bombarding and invading the enclave, killing over 43, 000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry’s tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but more than half of the dead are said to be women and children
JERUSALEM — Israel’s government said it would continue its discussion with international mediators about a potential cease-fire deal in its war with Hamas, as the head of the Mossad spy agency returned from Qatar on Monday after taking part in the latest round of in-person talks.
David Barnea met with the head of the CIA, Bill Burns, and the Prime Minister of Qatar in Doha, Israel’s prime minister’s office said in a brief statement.
“In the coming days, the discussions between the mediators and with Hamas will continue to examine the feasibility of talks and the continuation of attempts to advance a deal,” the statement said.
Washington and Qatar have been key mediators in the stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Many of the militant group’s leaders are based in the Qatari capital.
The new round of talks was announced by the U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week.
Neither Hamas nor Israel has shown any sign of softening their demands since the negotiations sputtered to a halt over the summer.
JERUSALEM — Israel’s parliament is scheduled to vote Monday on a pair of bills that would effectively sever ties with the U.N. agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza, strip it of legal immunities and restrict its ability to support Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Israel accuses the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, of turning a blind eye to Hamas militants it says have infiltrated its staff, including a small number of its 13,000 employees in Gaza who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks.
The bills risk crippling humanitarian aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, at a time the United States is pressing Israel to allow in more food and other supplies. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
The bills, which do not include provisions for alternative organizations to oversee its work, have been strongly criticized by international aid groups and a handful of Israel’s Western allies.
UNITED NATIONS — Iran’s foreign minister said in a letter requesting an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that his country reserves the right to respond to Israel’s recent attacks “at the appropriate time.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of violating Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “a flagrant breach of international law and the United Nations Charter,” which prohibits the use of force against any U.N. member nation.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called Iran’s request “another attempt by Iran to harm us, this time in the diplomatic arena.”
“We will stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” he said in a statement, stressing that the Israeli attack was in response to an Iranian attack on Oct. 1.
The Security Council scheduled a meeting Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) at Iran’s request, which was supported by Russia, China and Algeria, the Arab representative on the U.N.’s most powerful body.
Araghchi urged the Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the letter obtained by The Associated Press “to take a firm stance and condemn the Israeli regime for committing these acts of aggression strongly and unequivocally.”
Israel’s airstrikes early Saturday followed Iran’s launch of at least 180 missiles into Israel on Oct. 1. The Iranian airstrikes were in retaliation for devastating blows Israel landed against Iran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
JERUSALEM — Israel is discussing an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that would see four hostages released in exchange for a two-day halt to the fighting in Gaza, an Israel official said Monday.
The official said the discussions were both internal and with Egyptian officials. “We are examining every possible option to advance a deal,” the official said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed enthusiasm for the deal in a meeting with his Likud party on Monday, according to another official.
The official, who attended the meeting, said Netanyahu told lawmakers that he would immediately take the Egyptian proposal. He quoted Netanyahu as saying, "I am ready, even now.”
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations about the proposal with the media.
Hamas has yet to formally respond to the plan.
-- By Tia Goldenberg
BEIRUT — Successive Israeli airstrikes have pummeled the southern port city of Tyre in Lebanon following an evacuation warning from the Israeli military for parts of the city, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.
Footage aired by local media and the Lebanese Civil Defense showed thick plumes of smoke rising against the Mediterranean skyline, with fires and widespread destruction of residential buildings. No casualties have been reported immediately.
Following the Israeli evacuation warning, Lebanese Civil Defense teams patrolled the city with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave the area immediately.
An Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X that Israel attacked Hezbollah targets in Tyre, including “weapons and anti-tank missile depots, military buildings and reconnaissance sites of various Hezbollah military units, including the Aziz unit.”
The Aziz unit is one of Hezbollah’s three military units and is responsible for the western sector in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army accused Hezbollah of launching operations from the Tyre area into Israeli territory.
CAIRO — Egypt’s president on Monday called for coordinated international efforts to establish a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon, a day after he proposed a two-day cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s comments came in a meeting in Cairo with Manfred Weber, the chairman of the European People’s Party, the largest political group in the European Parliament.
“The president stressed the need for all international parties, including the European Union, to combine efforts to push hard for … a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon,” el-Sissi’s office said in a statement. He also called for Israel to halt raids in the occupied West Bank, and allow unfettered and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
El-Sissi told reporters Sunday that Egypt, a key mediator between Hamas and Israel, has proposed a two-day cease-fire during which four hostages held in Gaza would be freed.
He said the proposal, which aims to jumpstart the stalled negotiations, also includes the release of some Palestinian prisoners, the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza and negotiations on making the cease-fire permanent.
Global oil prices are falling sharply Monday after a retaliatory strike by Israel over the weekend targeted Iranian military sites rather than its energy infrastructure as had been feared.
Prices for crude spiked globally on Oct. 2, after Iran fired nearly 200 missiles into Israel, part of a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatened to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.
Iran is the world’s seventh largest oil producer, but if the conflict in the Middle East were to spread, it could drag in some of the world’s largest energy producers. The United States is the world’s largest producer of crude.
On Monday, the price of benchmark U.S. crude and Brent crude, the international benchmark, tumbled 6%.
The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted facilities that Iran used to make the missiles fired at Israel as well as surface-to-air missile sites. There was no indication that Iran’s oil or nuclear sites were hit.
MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Moscow has been doing all it can to prevent the further escalation after Israeli strikes on Iran.
Lavrov said that “we are doing everything possible to help end the escalation and defuse the situation.”
“Of course, Israel’s strikes on Iran, which are presented as a response and that now the response has happened, we are even, no actions needed, is an uneasy situation,” he said. “But we hope that the (U.N.) Security Council will be able somehow to help calm the situation.”
He noted that “at this stage, the worst-case scenario has been avoided” for now, but added that “there are someone who want to heat the flame up to the extent when the U.S. get involved.”
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in a raid on a hospital in northern Gaza over the weekend.
Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya on Friday, detaining 44 male staff, according to the World Health Organization. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which was treating some 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.
Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the yearlong war, saying Hamas and other militants use them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny those allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said there was heavy fighting around Kamal Adwan Hospital, though not inside it, and that weapons were found inside the facility.
The official said medical staff were detained and searched because some of the militants had disguised themselves as medics. The official said the military had helped international organizations relocate 88 patients and medical staff to other hospitals in the weeks leading up to the raid, and that during the raid itself, troops had brought 30,000 liters of fuel and medical supplies from international organizations to help keep the facility running.
The Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks.
The UN said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant as the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the north has plummeted over the past month.
— By Melanie Lidman
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard made his first public comments Monday after Israel’s weekend attack on the country.
Gen. Hossein Salami, in a condolence message to Iran’s regular military, called Israel’s strike “illegitimate and illegal.” Four soldiers in Iran’s air defense network were killed in the attack on Saturday, as was one civilian, Iranian state media say.
The attack was “a sign of miscalculation and the inability” of Israel on the battlefield with Iranian-backed militants “particularly in Gaza and Lebanon.”
The “bitter consequences will be beyond the imagination of the occupiers,” Salami added, referring to Israel.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq has submitted a memorandum of protest to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council saying Israel violated its airspace in carrying out its attack on Iran over the weekend, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement.
The statement said that Israeli “aggressor aircraft violated Iraq’s airspace and sovereignty and used Iraqi airspace to carry out the attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on Oct. 26.”
It added that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had directed Iraq’s foreign minister to discuss the matter with the United States. The two countries recently reached an agreement to begin winding down the mission of a U.S.-led coalition formed to fight the Islamic State militant group and to withdraw many of the U.S. troops who remain in the country.
On Sunday, the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement accusing the U.S. of coordinating with Israel to use Iraqi airspace to launch the attack on Iran and threatening retaliation against U.S. forces.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Monday afternoon at Iran’s request on Israel’s air strikes against the country.
Switzerland, which holds the council’s rotating presidency, announced the meeting on Sunday and said the Iranian request was supported by Russia, China and Algeria, the Arab representative on the council.
The social platform X has suspended a new account on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that posted messages in Hebrew.
The account was suspended early Monday with a brief note appended to it saying: “X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules.” It wasn’t immediately clear what the violation was. The Elon Musk-owned social media company did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The move came after Israel openly attacked Iran for the first time this weekend. Khamenei said in a speech on Sunday that Israel’s strikes — in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack this month — “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation.
The X account opened Sunday with a message in Hebrew reading: “In the name of God, the most merciful,” a standard Islamic greeting.
Khamenei’s office has maintained multiple accounts for the 85-year-old supreme leader on X for years and has sent messages in a variety of languages in the past.
A second message corresponded to a speech Khamenei gave on Sunday and was sent on his English account as: “Zionists are making a miscalculation with respect to Iran. They don’t know Iran. They still haven’t been able to correctly understand the power, initiative, and determination of the Iranian people.” The message referred to Israel’s attack Saturday on Iran.
This isn’t the first time Khamenei has seen a suspension or removal from social media. In February, Meta removed Facebook and Instagram accounts for the supreme leader over his support of the militant group Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Social media platforms like X and Facebook have been blocked in Iran for years, requiring Iranians to use virtual private networks to access them.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will respond to Israel “appropriately," after Israel openly attacked Iranian military sites for the first time this weekend.
“We are not seeking war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country and will respond appropriately to the Zionist regime’s aggression,” Pezeshkian was quoted by state TV on Sunday as saying.
Pezeshkian also said the U.S. had promised Iran to stop the war in Gaza and Lebanon if Iran restrained. “They had promised to end the war in response to our restraint, but they did not keep their word,” he said.
The Iranian president also warned tensions will escalate if Israel’s aggression continues, adding, “We know that the United States is encouraging Israel to commit these atrocities.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran announced Sunday that a civilian had been killed in Israel’s attack on the country, without offering any details on the circumstances of his death.
The state-run IRNA news agency identified the dead man as Allahverdi Rahimpour and said he lived in a suburban area of southwestern Tehran.
While offering no details on what he was doing or where he was killed, IRNA made a point to say he was not a member of Iran’s armed forces.
Iran has offered few details on the attack and the damage caused by them so far.
A rescue worker checks a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Lebanese women pass in front of a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rises from buildings hit in Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Smoke rises from buildings hit in Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
A building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Smoke rises from buildings hit by Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Journalists work as smoke rises from a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rise from buildings hit in Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Smoke rises from buildings hit in Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Smoke rises from a building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Smoke rises next of a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.(AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)
Journalists film as smoke rises from buildings hit in Israeli airstrikes in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024.(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this photo provided by the Israeli army, armed Israeli Air Force planes depart from an unknown location to attack Iran, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Israeli Army via AP)
In this photo provided by the Israeli army, armed Israeli Air Force planes depart from an unknown location to attack Iran, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Israeli Army via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows damaged buildings at Iran's Khojir military base outside of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital that experts in the past have linked to Tehran's onetime nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program, satellite photos analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press show. The damaged structures are in the bottom center of the image. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
