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The Pentagon is seeking more than $3.5 billion in emergency funding to replenish US weapons and equipment for Israel, following Iran’s large-scale April 2024 missile and drone attack.

Eileen Zhang

Graphic Truth: Pentagon seeks billions to restock Israeli defenses

The Pentagon is seeking more than $3.5 billion in emergency funding to replenish US weapons and equipment for Israel, following Iran’s large-scale April 2024 missile and drone attack. The largest single request, about $1 billion, is for RTX’s Standard Missile interceptors which are used to shoot down ballistic missiles. Another $204 million is earmarked for Lockheed Martin’s THAAD interceptors, which destroy ballistic missiles at high altitudes. Funds for radar upkeep, vessel refurbishments, and munitions transport are also on the bill. The requests, drawing on Congress’s 2024 Israeli Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, underscore the steep costs of sustaining a heightened US military presence in the Middle East.

Young Iranian female protesters shout anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while participating in a protest to condemn the U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 22, 2025, amid the Iran-Israel war.

Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto

What’s next for Iran?

The United States is back at war in the Middle East: Late Saturday evening, the US military unleashed 75 precision-guided weapons, including 14 “bunker-buster” bombs, against Iran’s Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. Israel followed up by hitting Fordo’s access routes on Monday. US President Donald Trump is now openly contemplating regime change.

It’s not yet clear how much damage has been done to Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Trump hailed the operation and said that the US had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but Vice President JD Vance said Sunday the White House is going “to ensure that we do something with that fuel,” tacitly acknowledging that the Islamic Republic may still retain supplies of enriched uranium. Tehran, for its part, said it had already moved fuel and key technology away from the key nuclear sites before they were bombed.

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Suspended Jewish Columbia and Barnard students participate in a press conference outside the president of Columbia University’s house on April 23, 2024, in Manhattan, New York.

REUTERS/ Barry Williams

Hard Numbers: Columbia punishes deans, Iran boosts missile output, UN accuses Rwanda of fighting in Congo, Colombia protects the forest

3: Columbia University on Monday removed three deans from their positions over antisemitic text messages they exchanged in a group chat during a late-May event about Jewish life on campus in the wake of protests about Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza. The three have been placed on indefinite leave. For our complete on-the-ground coverage of the upheaval at Columbia this spring, led by GZERO’s Riley Callanan, see here.

2: Iran has been ramping up its output of ballistic missiles at two key production facilities, according to satellite imagery. Tehran’s most prominent buyers of the missiles include the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah paramilitaries in Lebanon and, of course, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which signed a missile deal with Iran in 2022.

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Why Netanyahu relented to protests, but Macron didn't | World In :60 | GZERO Media

Why Netanyahu relented to protests in Israel, but France's Macron didn't

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Why did Netanyahu end up backing down to protests in Israel, but not Macron in France?

Well, they are two different countries. But really, in Israel, they hadn't yet pushed the reform through. At this point, Netanyahu hasn't said he is given up on it. He said he's waiting for 30 days. Now, he might not be able to get it through, but still, it wasn't like it was passed and then he said, "Too much. Now, I've got to undo it." Where in the case of Macron, he had already gotten the vote in the upper house. He'd already forced it through, avoiding the lower house through a constitutional measure, which meant that essentially he had already gotten the agreement and then he was dealing with massive demonstrations. Which, by the way, the demonstrations themselves not super popular in France, even though the pension reform is strongly opposed, so I'm not surprised by that.

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