In this Sunday press review, we cover an article in The New York Times about Israel’s assassination methods targeting Iranian officials, an article in The Guardian discussing the “authoritarian state” under Donald Trump’s rule in the U.S., and a Financial Times piece on how Bitcoin is fueling new wealth and luxury travel.

Starting with The New York Times, the joint report by several journalists was titled “Targeting Iranian Leaders: Israel Found the Weak Link in Their Personal Guards.”

The newspaper notes that Iranian officials were cautious about mobile phone use, but according to Iranian and Israeli officials, the reckless use of mobile phones by Iranian security guards over several years, including social media posts, played a pivotal role “in allowing Israeli military intelligence to track nuclear scientists and Iranian military leaders, and for the Israeli Air Force to strike and kill them with missiles and bombs during the first week of the June war.”

The report refers to June 16, the fourth day of the Iran-Israel war, when the Iranian Supreme National Security Council met urgently in a bunker 100 feet underground beneath a mountain slope in western Tehran.

Over several days, continuous Israeli airstrikes destroyed military, governmental, and nuclear sites across Iran, killing several senior military leaders and nuclear scientists, according to the newspaper.

It adds: “Officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, heads of the judiciary and intelligence ministry, and senior military commanders, arrived in separate cars. None carried mobile phones, aware that Israeli intelligence could track them.”

Despite precautions, Israeli aircraft dropped six bombs on the bunker shortly after the meeting began, targeting the entrance and exit doors.

The newspaper notes that “no one inside the bunker was killed. When the leaders later exited, they found the bodies of some guards killed by the explosions,” also mentioning Pezeshkian was slightly injured.

The report quotes Pezeshkian describing the attack during a meeting with senior clerics: “There was only one hole, and we saw air seeping in, so we said: we won’t suffocate. Life depends on one moment. If Israel had succeeded in killing senior officials, it would have created chaos and made people lose hope.”

The attack caused chaos in Iranian intelligence, and officials soon discovered a major security breach: Israelis had hacked the phones of the personal guards who accompanied the Iranian leaders to the site and waited outside. Previously, Israel’s tracking of guards had not been reported.

The newspaper quotes political analyst Sasan Karimi, former Vice President for Strategic Affairs in the current Iranian government: “We know senior officials did not carry phones, but their interlocutors, security guards, and drivers did not take precautions seriously, and this is how most were tracked.”

The New York Times says Israel targeted a wide range of Iranian leaders, including heads of government branches at the national security meeting, killing at least 30 senior military commanders, including IRGC Air Force commander General Haji Zadeh.

The Guardian on Authoritarianism under Trump

In The Guardian, writer Jonathan Freedland says, “Trump’s dictator-like behavior has become clear, and ironically we ignore it, but now it’s time to call it what it is.”

He argues that if Trump’s actions were in a Latin American country, the rhetoric against it would be much harsher, noting that “Trump’s march toward authoritarianism is very steady, advancing one or two steps every day, making it easier to get used to — you can’t stay in a permanent state of shock.”

Freedland cites examples of Trump’s authoritarian policies, including “deploying the National Guard in Washington D.C., with 2,000 armed soldiers patrolling the capital under the pretext of fighting crime, while violent crime rates were at their lowest in 30 years when the president made the decision.”

He also notes that in June, “the National Guard and Marines were sent to Los Angeles to suppress protests against his immigration policies, protests the administration described as bordering on insurrection.” The immigration agency, “thanks to Trump, now has a budget rivaling the world’s largest armies and abducts people from streets or pulls them from cars,” according to the article.

The article also mentions Trump broke all norms, and possibly U.S. law, by attempting to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board on unproven mortgage fraud charges.

In conclusion, the author believes “the problem is people don’t want to see this happening in the U.S., fearing to face a reality that changes global strategic balances. If America slips into excessive authoritarianism, Britain’s and the EU’s position will be profoundly affected after 80 years of relying on the idea of a stable, democratic American-led West.”

Financial Times on Bitcoin and Luxury Travel

The Financial Times article by Mary Novick and Niko Asgari discusses the Bitcoin boom driving new wealthy individuals to “excessive luxury travel.”

The article notes that wealthy young entrepreneurs have sparked a boom in the global luxury travel market, with people aged 30 to 40 spending $28 billion on luxury travel in 2023, expected to reach $54 billion by 2028, according to McKinsey, one of the world’s largest management consulting firms.

This is attributed to luxury private airlines and cruise lines beginning to accept cryptocurrency payments, with growing demand from a new generation of wealthy individuals who made fortunes from Bitcoin price surges.

Bitcoin recently hit an all-time high of $124,000, supported by U.S. President Donald Trump’s backing of the sector and his pledge to make America the “cryptocurrency capital” of the world, the article says.

The article also highlights that “Congress passed historic legislation, while Trump appointed crypto-friendly regulators and supported many digital asset companies. Alongside cryptocurrency prices, shares of companies like Coinbase exchange and stablecoin operator Circle reached record highs.”

Because of this, “the annual travel pass for Virgin Voyages luxury cruises, worth $120,000, can now be purchased with cryptocurrency payments,” according to the article.

The article quotes Nick Fazioli, head of commercial aviation and aerospace at Jefferies investment bank, saying Bitcoin and tech entrepreneurs have “unlimited resources, unlimited money, and boundless ambitions,” but “the most important thing they lack is time.” According to Fazioli, private jets allow travelers “to be in three cities in one day and return in the evening to see their families. Once you get used to private travel, it’s very hard to go back.”