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This is the World In Brief from The Economist.

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J.D. Vant said that America's strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities had substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon.

America's vice president evaded a question about whether the targets had been totally obliterated, as Donald Trump had claimed.

Mr. Vance said that America did not want a protracted conflict and that the administration was keen to begin talks. Iran does not sound as if it is in the

talking mood. Massoud Peschkian, Iran's president, said that America must receive a response

for their aggression and that Iran will never surrender

to bullying and oppression. Ali Akbar Valiati, a senior advisor to Ayatolli Ali Khomeini, Iran's supreme

leader, said that there will no longer be any place for America in the region and warned

other countries that helping it would make them legitimate targets.

At least 16 people were reported injured in Israel after Iran sent a barrage of retaliatory missiles towards it.

The Israel Defence Forces said it had begun striking targets in Western Iran.

Earlier, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, thanked Mr. Trump and praised America's attacks. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, said he was profoundly alarmed by the

escalation. A suicide bomber attacked a Greek Orthodox Church on the outskirts of Damascus,

...