AnewZ Morning Brief - June 16th, 2025

Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for June 16th, covering the latest developments you need to know.

Israel-Iran clashes escalate, civilians urged to evacuate target areas

Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on June 15, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders convening in Canada on June 15 would reach an agreement to help resolve the conflict and keep it from escalating.

U.S. urges citizens to exit Iran via Azerbaijan

Amid heightened Iran-Israel tensions, the U.S. State Department advises Americans in Iran to leave immediately, pointing them to the Astara land crossing into Azerbaijan; entry requires a special permit arranged through the U.S. Embassy in Baku because Azerbaijan’s borders are otherwise closed. Switzerland, acting as Washington’s protecting power, handles any urgent consular issues in Tehran.

Azerbaijan is already escorting foreign groups—including Americans, Russian filmmaker Fyodor Bondarchuk’s crew, members of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Krgyz and Kazakh citizens—through Astara, providing medical checks, refreshments, and buses to Baku and its international airport, underscoring its broader role in humanitarian evacuations from Iran.

Second black box recovered from the Ahmedabad crash site

Investigators in India on June 15 recovered the second black box from the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 that crashed in the city of Ahmedabad, killing at least 279 people, authorities announced.

The cockpit voice recorder has been found, Mr PK Mishra, a senior aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said in a statement. The flight data recorder was recovered on June 13, one day after the crash.

G7 leaders gather in Canada for a summit

Leaders of some of the world’s biggest economic powers arrived in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday for a Group of Seven summit, overshadowed by an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and U.S. President Donald Trump’s unresolved trade war.

Israel’s strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation, which appeared to catch many world leaders unawares, is the latest sign of a more volatile world.

Iran rejects ceasefire negotiations while under Israeli attack, official says

Iran has told mediators Qatar and Oman that it is not open to negotiating a ceasefire while it is under Israeli attack, an official briefed on the communications told Reuters on Sunday, as the two foes launched fresh attacks and raised fears of a wider conflict.

"The Iranians informed Qatari and Omani mediators that they will only pursue serious negotiations once Iran has completed its response to the Israeli pre-emptive strikes," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conflict.

China adds 100 nuclear warheads in past year, report shows

China is beefing up its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country, a new report shows, highlighting the risks of a new nuclear arms race led by big powers.

China currently possesses at least 600 nuclear warheads, which is an increase of about 100 a year since 2023, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates, while the number of warheads owned by other nuclear states remained relatively stable.

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