🇮🇱🗳 Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in New York and Scotland votes, France says

Israeli firm BlackCore, suspected of interfering in ‌France's local elections in March, is also suspected of meddling in elections in New York City and Scotland, and operating in Angola and Togo, France's disinformation detection service, Viginum, said on Thursday.

Last month, Reuters reported that French authorities suspected BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign targeting three mayoral candidates from the hard-left, pro-Palestine France Unbowed party (LFI) in ​the local elections.

At a press conference on Thursday alongside French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum chief Marc-Antoine Brillant said technical work had ​led them to BlackCore. Viginum subsequently presented a detailed report on BlackCore's alleged actions around the world.

"This modus operandi ⁠was not limited to municipal elections in France," he said. "It also appears to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in ​other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York."

However, Brillant said it was still ​unclear who had commissioned BlackCore to meddle in France.

Lecornu said the French government had asked Israel for explanations on BlackCore's actions, but also for help in trying to find out who may have ​been behind the smear campaign.

"It goes without saying that obviously we asked them for assistance and explanations," he said. "I do not doubt for a ​single instant that if a French private group, from French soil moreover, had engaged in foreign digital interference in Israel, they would have done the same to its ‌ambassador on ⁠site."

In a subsequent report, Viginum said it detected BlackCore-linked accounts targeting John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland. Swinney has described the situation ​in Gaza as a "man-made humanitarian catastrophe," saying a genocide may be unfolding, citing civilian casualties, widespread destruction and ​statements by Israeli ⁠officials.

Before scrubbing its online presence following enquiries from Reuters, BlackCore described itself as "an elite ⁠influence, cyber, ​and technology company built for the modern sera of information warfare." It said it ​provided governments and political campaigns with "cutting-edge strategies, advanced tools, and robust security to shape narratives."

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-firm-blackcore-also-suspected-meddling-nyc-scotland-votes-french-2026-06-11/

❓❌🇮🇱 Correspondent for Kan 11, Israel's public broadcaster, Gili Cohen, wrote on X/Twitter:

"A regional country blocked Israel from using its airspace during this week’s airstrikes against Iran. While Israel expected the same cooperation seen in past clashes, one source tells me the sudden shutdown sends a "clear diplomatic message" of shifting regional dynamics".

@CIG_telegram

💥🚢 State news agency, Mehr, says that repeated explosions can be heard from Sirik Island in the Strait of Hormuz related to Iran's enforcement of the closure of the Strait.

📝: The U.S. is likely trying to guide ships through the straits and the ships are being blown up.

🔗 https://t.iss.one/mehrnews/386247

🇺🇸⚔️🇲🇽 A Pentagon official admitted behind closed doors that targeted strikes part of Operation Southern Spear might've killed victims of human trafficking rather than drug smugglers

Nine months into the Trump administration’s deadly campaign against so-called drug boats, there is a pattern to the strikes. And a glaring anomaly.

The U.S. military has conducted more than 60 attacks, resulting in over 200 extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. In almost all the strikes, between one and four people lost their lives. In only one strike did the death toll of a single boat reach double digits: the first attack on September 2, 2025.

Since then, experts, lawmakers, and even military officials behind the scenes have been asking a simple but haunting question: Why was that boat packed with 11 people?

“Why would 11 people be on board a boat carrying drugs?” said a government source who attended a classified briefing where the large crew on the first boat attacked was discussed. “It’s a high risk for the cartels. That always stood out.”

🔗 https://theintercept.com/2026/06/10/trump-boat-strikes-human-trafficking-victims/

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 8× U.S. Air Force aerial refueling aircraft are currently operating over Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, while a USAF E-3B Sentry AWACS remains airborne over the region.

🔗 EGYOSINT

🇺🇸 Vance Boelter pleaded guilty Thursday to assassinating Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and to shooting State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, in attacks that prosecutors described as politically motivated.

•⁠ ⁠Prosecutors said Vance Boelter carried out the shootings while disguised as a police officer and driving a vehicle made to resemble a squad car.

•⁠ ⁠As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

@CIG_telegram

🇨🇳🇮🇷⚡️ — China’s sharp reduction in crude oil imports during the Iran War has helped prevent a major spike in global oil prices, despite the prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, WSJ writes.

China’s imports fell from around 11 million barrels per day to 7.8 million in May, with the missing roughly 3 million barrels offset by lower fuel demand due to the growth of electric vehicles and high-speed rail, reduced refinery activity, greater reliance on coal-based petrochemicals, and a gradual drawdown of strategic and commercial oil reserves.

Analysts warn, however, that China’s reduced imports may not be sustainable indefinitely.

Petrochemical production has slowed, reserves are being depleted, and Beijing may need to return to the global oil market in the coming months, potentially placing renewed upward pressure on prices.

🇵🇰🇶🇦🇦🇪🕊🇺🇸 After Trump threatened to attack Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and the UAE scrambled to stop him

Senior officials from Qatar, the UAE and Pakistan rang Trump as he was threatening to strike Iran "very hard tonight." Their assurance of a deal in reach convinced him to pull back.

The calls, which have not been previously reported, came from Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Pakistani defense chief Asim Munir, according to two administration officials and a diplomat briefed on the calls. Both were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic mediation.

These countries have sway over Tehran and Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Trump said Thursday, and their assurance that a deal was near led him to walk back his attack plans , according to one of the administration officials.

📝: Until someone leaks the draft of the MOU, assume every story about a "deal" is fake. Iran's neighbours don't want to see their industries bombed again and are desperate enough to make up lies about "deals" to Trump in order to prevent the war from regaining the intensity it had.

🔗 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/11/gulf-leaders-called-trump-to-stop-him-from-hitting-iran-it-worked-for-now-00960157

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸 The Iranian missile cities the US couldn’t destroy

Weeks of bombardment appear to have only temporarily suppressed Tehran’s firepower hidden underground

For 40 days, US and Israeli aircraft pounded the mountains around Yazd, trying to silence one of Iran’s most important military projects: a buried missile complex carved deep into the granite above the ancient desert city.

Yet, according to residents, the Iranian missiles kept firing regardless. “US and Israeli forces kept bombing those mountains,” said one resident of Yazd. “And Iran kept launching missiles until the final moments before the ceasefire.”

The resilience of Iran’s underground “missile cities” has become one of the most significant and contested questions in the aftermath of the US-Israeli bombardment earlier this year.

While Donald Trump has focused on the damage done to the facilities, to Iranian officials and some outside analysts, the war has proved that the Islamic republic’s missile force can be suppressed — but not destroyed. Much of Tehran’s arsenal is ready again for the next confrontation.

That has helped Tehran maintain the core of its asymmetric strategy against the US and Israel, emboldening it to threaten shipping and energy infrastructure across the Gulf even after weeks of bombardment. In exchanges of fire with Israel and the US this week, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched multiple ballistic missile barrages.

A regime insider said the war — and the fate of the missile cities — had fundamentally reinforced the leadership’s belief that military power, rather than diplomacy, remains the ultimate guarantor of security.

“More than ever before, we have concluded that building trust is a meaningless strategy,” he said. “Only strength can serve as a deterrent, not arguments in international forums about our rights. The enemy must be convinced of our capabilities and must never be allowed to miscalculate again. Iran is demonstrating in practice that it is prepared to go further than its adversaries.”

The precise number of underground missile complexes remains unclear. Analysts estimate that Iran operates dozens of such facilities across the country, many buried deep inside mountainous terrain.

Their location has proved critical. Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, said facilities close to Iran’s western borders were more vulnerable because drones could loiter overhead and strike launchers as they emerged from tunnels. Sites deeper inside the country, however, were harder to suppress.

“The problem for the US and Israel has been that the things needed to pin down a lot of these bases require a lot of continuous operations,” he said.

A second person close to the Islamic regime argued the depth of many sites rendered them largely immune to conventional aerial bombardment. He said some were not even used during the war because numerous other facilities remained operational.

“No bomber can do much against facilities buried more than 70 metres underground,” he said. “Watching B-52s drop multiple bunker-buster bombs on a single site looked terrifying. Yet, only a few hours later, missiles were being launched from the same location. They cannot be destroyed. Full stop!”

Iran has significant tunnelling experience, developed through decades of building metro systems and long tunnels through mountainous terrain. But Grajewski said Iran drew crucial lessons from North Korea after a visit by Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the former head of the missile force who was assassinated by Israel last year.

“He was also the head of the construction aspect of the missile force,” said Grajewski. “He went to North Korea, he saw their underground missile silos and he’s like: ‘This is great. We can actually defend ourselves and build these cities that you could have, you don’t necessarily need air defences’.”

🔗 https://archive.ph/SjFeN

—❗️🇷🇸 URGENT: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced today that he is considering running for the position of prime minister.

➡️ As part of the political transition, Vučić plans to resign from the presidency, a move that could take place within the next three months.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸🇧🇭 SoarAtlas found an impact on a newly-built hangar (2025) at ISA Air Base in Bahrain, base hosting US Navy P-8 Poseidon.

The damage was done between June 2-7, IRGC targeted US Bases in Bahrain with Missiles & Drones on June 3 & June 6.

🔗 MenchOsint (@MenchOsint)