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What recent events occurred in Iran involving Ali Larjanjani?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. Iran now confirms that its top security leader, Ali Larjanjani, and one other leader were killed during an Israeli airstrike Tuesday. NPR's Kerry Khan in Tel Aviv reports that Larjanjani was believed to have been directing Iran's war effort since Israel assassinated the supreme leader in the first hours of the war.
It was widely believed that Larjani was running Iran. He was also involved in talks with the Trump administration before the war. Here's Zayed Rad Al-Hussein. He's a former Jordanian diplomat and president of the International Peace Institute. He says he was surprised Larjani was targeted. because he seemed to be the one person who the international community could talk to.
And now with him apparently having been killed, it's difficult to see who one speaks to in the IRGC. The IRGC being a powerful branch of the Iranian security apparatus. NPR's Kerry Kahn, a former official in the ex-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's government, has been convicted in U.S. court of torture and immigration fraud. A jury handed down the verdict after a nine-day trial in Los Angeles.
NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. The jury found Samir Usman al-Sheikh guilty of four counts of torture as well as immigration offenses. The now 73-year-old was in charge of a notorious Syrian prison in Damascus from 2005 to 2008. Witness testimony and other evidence presented at trial showed Al-Sheikh personally ordered inmates to undergo torture, including beatings with fists and cables.
Evidence also indicated inmates were hung from the ceiling by their wrists for extended periods of time. And prosecutors showed Al-Sheikh lied about his role in the torture at the prison when he applied for his visa to come to the U.S. in 2020 to become a permanent resident and later a U.S. citizen. Sentencing will take place later this year. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
The Senate is beginning a marathon debate on what the administration is calling the Save America Act. As NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports, the election bill is a top priority of President Trump's. The Senate voted to begin debate, an exercise that may take several days or even longer. The legislation would require proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote.
President Trump has said he won't sign most other bills until Congress passes this legislation. Republicans need support from Democrats in order to reach the 60-vote threshold to get the bill over the finish line. Democrats do not support this bill. Non-citizens cannot legally vote in federal elections, and officials and other experts say instances of them doing so anyway are rare.
Barbara Sprunt, NPR News, the Capitol. Illinois Lieutenant Governor Julianne Stratton has been declared the winner in the Democratic primary in the election held Tuesday night for the U.S. Senate seat to succeed the retiring Senator Dick Durbin. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News.
As Cuba's widening economic turmoil worsens, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the country's current leadership and its political and government systems cannot fix the country's problems and the nation, he said, needs dramatic change. Cuba is now in the midst of a third major blackout since December amid the loss of critical oil from Venezuela as the U.S.
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