Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028749
IRAN
US ENGAGES IN MASSIVE MILITARY STRIKES
NYT: Trump Claims Success After Bombing Key Iran Nuclear Sites
US ENGAGES IN MASSIVE MILITARY STRIKES
NYT: Trump Claims Success After Bombing Key Iran Nuclear Sites
Original article: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/21/world/iran-israel-trump
After hitting Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear installation, President Trump warned of more strikes “if peace does not come quickly.” Israel’s prime minister called the bombings a “bold decision.”
June 21, 2025, 11:12 p.m. ET
President Trump warned of “far greater” attacks on Iran if the country did not make peace with Israel and the United States.
A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.
Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.
I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done.
And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.
Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left.
Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.
Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been
President Trump warned of “far greater” attacks on Iran if the country did not make peace with Israel and the United States.CreditCredit...Pool photo by Carlos Barria
June 21, 2025, 11:10 p.m. ET19 minutes ago
Eric NagourneyMaggie Haberman and Eric Schmitt
Here are the latest developments.
The United States has entered Israel’s war against Iran.
American warplanes and submarines attacked three nuclear sites in Iran, bringing the U.S. military directly into the war after days of uncertainty about whether President Trump would intervene.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror,” Mr. Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House on Saturday night.
Mr. Trump said American bombers had hit Iran’s two major uranium enrichment centers: the mountain facility at Fordo and a larger enrichment plant at Natanz, which Israel had struck several days ago with smaller weapons. A third site near the ancient city of Isfahan where Iran is believed to keep near-bomb-grade uranium was also bombed, he said.
He also threatened more action against Iran if it did not return to diplomatic efforts.
“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” Mr. Trump said during his White House address. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
Iranian officials confirmed that the three sites had been attacked. Three senior officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said they believed American forces had bombed Fordo and Natanz at around 2:30 a.m. local time.
The extent of the damage to the sites early Sunday was not clear. Mr. Trump asserted that the facilities were “completely and totally obliterated.” Iranian officials acknowledged the sites had been attacked but did not immediately describe the damage. A spokesman for the Emergency Committee of Qom, a city near Fordo, said that enemy forces had bombed “parts of the Fordo nuclear facility,” according to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards.
Iran, which has refrained so far from direct attacks on U.S. troops and interests in the Middle East, has warned that American entry into war would bring retaliation, raising fears around the region about the danger of a widening war. What form that response would take is unclear. Analysts have also speculated that Iran could react by attacking U.S. troops and bases in the region, or by accelerating its nuclear program — assuming the program survives U.S. bombing.
After a week of mixed signals, President Trump, who has long vowed to steer America clear of overseas “forever wars,” authorized U.S. forces to strike Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear installation, deep underground. The goal, American and Israeli officials have said, is to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
Israel and Iran, sworn enemies for decades, have been exchanging attacks since June 13, when the Israelis launched a surprise assault that targeted Iranian infrastructure, including nuclear installations, and military leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation had no choice but to act if it wanted to stave off a nuclear “holocaust.”
Iran responded with missile barrages of its own, as well as offers to resume negotiations over its nuclear development program.
After the U.S. strikes, Mr. Netanyahu praised Mr. Trump in a video statement, saying he had “acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
Here is what else to know:
Strike details: A U.S. official said that six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on the Fordo nuclear site, which lies deep underground, and Navy submarines fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. One B-2 also dropped two bunker busters on Natanz, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
What’s next? Now that Mr. Trump has sent American bombers to help Israel destroy a uranium enrichment facility in Iran, it will most likely initiate a more dangerous phase in the war. Here are some ways that could play out, and a look at how the U.S. military’s powerful bunker-busting bombs work.
Saturday strikes: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against missile sites, a nuclear facility and munitions storage sites in Iran, while Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles and launched drones into Israel.
Evacuations: The U.S. Department of State has begun evacuating Americans from Israel, said the American ambassador, Mike Huckabee. In a post on social media, he encouraged Americans in Israel and the West Bank to fill out a form requesting evacuation, which could be by cruise ship, commercial flight, charter flight or a flight operated by the U.S. government.
Talya Minsberg
June 21, 2025, 11:21 p.m. ET9 minutes ago
Both the New York Police Department and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C., said they were sending more officers to religious institutions and other sites across each city after the U.S. attacked Iran.
Eric Schmitt
June 21, 2025, 11:19 p.m. ET11 minutes ago
The B-2’s that struck the Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday flew non-stop for about 37 hours from their base in Missouri, refueling several times mid-air, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity, given the sensitive nature of the information,
Where the U.S. attacked Iranian nuclear sites
American strikes
Israeli strikes since June 13
IranIsraelIraqSaudi
ArabiaAfghanistanTurkmenistanQatarTehranTabriz
Fordo ... Bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Iran’s most critical nuclear site.
Natanz Israeli attacks had already damaged the country’s largest uranium enrichment center.
Isfahan A repository of near bomb-grade nuclear fuel is thought to be stored here.
Sources: New York Times analysis of satellite imagery from Airbus, Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs, local news reports, and verified social photos and videos Note: Map shows confirmed locations of strikes and is not comprehensive. The New York Times
Robert Jimison
June 21, 2025, 11:08 p.m. ET21 minutes ago
Robert Jimison ... Reporting from New York City
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee, said the Trump administration had not briefed Congress ahead of the strikes, calling that decision “unfortunate.”
Talya Minsberg
June 21, 2025, 11:05 p.m. ET25 minutes ago
In another pre-recorded statement released early Sunday on social media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israeli citizens directly, telling them the U.S. strikes were carried out “in full coordination” between the American and Israeli militaries.
Netanyahu said he and President Trump spoke after the strikes.
Farnaz Fassihi
June 21, 2025, 10:55 p.m. ET35 minutes ago
António Guterres, the head of the U.N., said that he was gravely alarmed by the U.S. attacks on Iran. “This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” Guterres said.
Julian E. Barnes
June 21, 2025, 10:53 p.m. ET36 minutes ago
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who has emerged as one of the few Republican critics of President Trump’s foreign policy decisions, praised his decision to strike Iran. “Seizing this opportunity is not an escalation toward war — it is a prudent response to the warmongers in Tehran,” McConnell said. “Iran would be foolish to misunderstand American resolve.”
Robert Jimison
Michael Gold
June 21, 2025, 10:44 p.m. ET45 minutes ago
Robert Jimison and Michael Gold
Republican lawmakers cheer the U.S. strike on Iran as top Democrats condemn it. Image
Men in suits and ties walking through a building.
Speaker Mike Johnson, center, released a statement saying the strikes were necessary.Credit...Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Top Republicans in Congress swiftly rallied behind President Trump on Saturday after he ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, even as senior Democrats and some G.O.P. lawmakers condemned it as an unconstitutional move that could drag the United States into a broader war in the Middle East.
In separate statements, the leading Republicans in Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, commended the military operation, calling it a necessary check on Iran’s ambitions of developing a nuclear weapon. Both men had been briefed on the military action before the strike was carried out, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Thune both argued that the airstrikes were necessary after Iran had rejected diplomatic overtures to curb its nuclear program.
“The regime in Iran, which has committed itself to bringing ‘death to America’ and wiping Israel off the map, has rejected all diplomatic pathways to peace,” Mr. Thune said.
Image A man in a dark suit and a red tie.
Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said that Iran rejected pathways to peace.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
Mr. Johnson argued that the military action was consistent with Mr. Trump’s muscular foreign policy.
“President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated,” he said. “That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision and clarity.”
But top Democrats harshly criticized the move.
“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said in a statement. He said the president “shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action.”
Representative Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, condemned the operation as unconstitutional and warned that it could drag the United States into a larger conflict.
“Donald Trump’s decision to launch direct military action against Iran without congressional approval is a clear violation of the Constitution, which grants the power to declare war explicitly to Congress,” he said in a statement. “It is impossible to know at this stage whether this operation accomplished its objectives. We also don’t know if this will lead to further escalation in the region and attacks against our forces, events that could easily pull us even deeper into a war in the Middle East.”
Leading national security Democrats on Capitol Hill were not informed of the strikes until after Mr. Trump had posted about them on social media, according to three people familiar with the matter who would discuss it only on the condition of anonymity.
Most of the praise immediately following the operation came from Republicans. Some emphasized their views that the bombings would not lead to a ground deployment of American forces in the region.
“To those concerned about U.S. involvement — this isn’t a ‘forever war’ in fact, it’s ending one,” Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, said on social media.
Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, called Mr. Trump’s decision to strike in Iran “deliberate” and “correct.”
“We now have very serious choices ahead to provide security for our citizens and our allies and stability for the Middle East,” Mr. Wicker said in a statement.
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, whose unqualified support for Israel has put him at odds with other members of his party, was one of the few Democrats to offer an immediate statement of support. He wrote on social media that the military action “was the correct move.”
“Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities,” Mr. Fetterman added. “I’m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world.”
Other lawmakers, many of them Democrats who had already expressed concerns that the Trump administration was considering sidestepping Congress’s constitutional power to declare war, immediately criticized the strikes on the nuclear sites.
Image A woman and a man, both in suits, walk through a parking lot.
Representative Thomas Massie, center, said the strikes were not constitutional.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York Times
Mr. Trump, “did not come to Congress to explain his reasons for bombing a sovereign nation and to seek authorization for these strikes,” Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, said in a statement. “These reckless actions are going to put the lives of American service members and American citizens at risk.”
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, who earlier this week introduced a bipartisan resolution that would require congressional approval before U.S. troops could engage in offensive attacks against Iran, wrote on social media that the attack was “not Constitutional.”
Carl Hulse
June 21, 2025, 10:43 p.m. ET46 minutes ago
Top congressional Democrats say that they received only a perfunctory alert from the White House ahead of Trump’s announcement of the air strikes with no opportunity to seek details.
Eric Schmitt
June 21, 2025, 10:26 p.m. ET1 hour ago
U.S. commanders had said earlier this week that any strike on the heavily fortified Fordo facility would require multiple aircraft dropping several of the bunker busters to destroy the site. Still, the number of weapons involved and the deployment of submarine-fired cruise missiles at two other sites, Natanz and Isfahan, surprised some analysts.
Keith Bradsher ... Reporting from Shanghai
June 21, 2025, 10:26 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Global oil prices are likely to see a spike, at least for a short period, when trading resumes at 6 p.m. Eastern, said Muyu Xu, an Asia crude oil analyst at Kpler, a global commodities and shipping firm. But long term, traders will be looking to see if fighting affects Iran’s oil export capacity or on tanker traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf.
Aric Toler and Haley Willis
June 21, 2025, 10:23 p.m. ET1 hour ago
The NASA fire information system detected a significant heat-generating event near the Fordo nuclear enrichment facility, with one detection about 30 minutes before President Trump announced the U.S. strikes. Often areas that are bombed or produce significant heat, such as from lasting fires, are detected. Other events, like wildfires and industrial activity, can also be picked up; however, no recent events were detected in the last month around Fordo.
Farnaz Fassihi
June 21, 2025, 10:21 p.m. ET1 hour ago
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued a statement confirming that Iran’s three nuclear sites “were attacked in a violent act against international laws, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by the enemies of Islamic Iran.” The agency said it would take legal action against the United States in international courts and that Iran’s nuclear program would continue.
Eric Schmitt
June 21, 2025, 10:21 p.m. ET1 hour ago
A U.S. official said that six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on the Fordo nuclear site, which lies deep underground, and Navy submarines fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. One B-2 also dropped two bunker busters on Natanz, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Image Credit...Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
Talya Minsberg
June 21, 2025, 10:17 p.m. ET1 hour ago
In a pre-recorded statement released early Sunday on social media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel congratulated President Trump for “his bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
The United States, Netanyahu said, “has done what no other country on earth could do. History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
Video Congratulations, President Trump.
CreditCredit...@netanyahu, via X
Robert Jimison June 21, 2025, 10:12 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Reporting from New York City
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, called for President Trump’s impeachment in response to the strikes. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” she wrote in a social media post, calling the strike “disastrous” and accusing Trump of having “impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations.”
Tyler Pager
June 21, 2025, 10:07 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump says top military leaders will hold a news conference Sunday morning.
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:06 p.m. ET1 hour ago
“We love you, God, and we love our great military,” Trump says.
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:06 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump’s remarks were about four minutes long.
Tyler Pager
June 21, 2025, 10:06 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump warns that more attacks could come. “If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” he says.
Image Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:06 p.m. ET1 hour ago
“There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight,” Trump says.
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:05 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump says that without peace, there will be “tragedy” for Iran that will far exceed what’s taken place.
Tyler Pager
June 21, 2025, 10:05 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump is making the argument that Iran didn’t just pose a threat to Israel, but also to the United States. “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America, death to Israel,’” he says.
Image Credit...Carlos Barria/Reuters
Jonathan Swan
June 21, 2025, 10:05 p.m. ET1 hour ago
After months of hesitancy, President Trump embraces Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying they worked closely as a team.
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:04 p.m. ET1 hour ago
“I decided a long time ago that I will not let this happen,” Trump says of Iranian efforts to gain a nuclear weapon, a point on which he’s been consistent over the last decade.
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:04 p.m. ET1 hour ago
“Iran, the bully of the Mideast, must now make peace,” Trump says.
Tyler Pager
June 21, 2025, 10:04 p.m. ET1v hour ago
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror,” Trump says.
Maggie Haberman June 21, 2025, 10:04 p.m. ET1 hour ago Maggie Haberman
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capacity,” Trump says, calling the bombing a “spectacular” success.
Video transcript 0:01/0:54
A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace.
A short time ago, the U.S. military
Jonathan Swan
June 21, 2025, 10:04 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump claims that Iran’s nuclear sites are “totally obliterated.”
Image Credit...Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 10:03 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Trump is flanked by Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Tyler Pager
June 21, 2025, 10:03 p.m. ET1 hour ago
President Trump is walking down the cross hall of the White House to deliver his remarks.
Carl Hulse
June 21, 2025, 9:53 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, took a hard line against the president’s action, saying, “President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.” He called for an immediate classified congressional briefing and said that the president “shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action.”
Carl Hulse
June 21, 2025, 9:50 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, said in a statement that the military action against Iran was warranted. “The regime in Iran, which has committed itself to bringing ‘Death to America’ and wiping Israel off the map, has rejected all diplomatic pathways to peace,” he said. Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed the airstrikes as well, saying, “The military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says.”
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 9:47 p.m. ET2 hours ago
President Trump has begun speaking with reporters by telephone to praise the bombings ahead of his national address.
Image Credit...Eric Lee for The New York Times
Talya Minsberg
June 21, 2025, 9:42 p.m. ET2 hours ago
It is almost dawn in Israel, and the country’s top leadership has been silent on the U.S. attacks. In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the United States to use its bunker-buster bombs to destroy the underground nuclear site at Fordo, but he hasn’t made any public statement since the bombings.
Julian E. Barnes
June 21, 2025, 9:36 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Skeptics of military intervention were hoping that President Trump would take steps to prevent the United States from being dragged into a wider war. “To calm the situation as much as possible, Trump should urgently redeploy as many U.S. forces stationed in the region as possible out of harm’s way before Iran can retaliate,” said Rosemary Kelanic, the director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates a restrained foreign policy. Kelanic said Trump should begin by withdrawing American troops from Iraq and Syria, forces particularly vulnerable to an Iranian counterattack.
Farnaz Fassihi
June 21, 2025, 9:33 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Akbar Salehi, the deputy governor of Iran’s Isfahan province, said the nuclear facilities of Natanz and Isfahan had been attacked. He said air defenses fired on the “invaders,” according to the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Farnaz Fassihi
June 21, 2025, 9:29 p.m. ET2 hours ago
On the night of America’s attack, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was not in the country. He was in Turkey, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was scheduled to appear at a news conference on Sunday. Araghchi said earlier on Saturday, “If the United States enters the war, the situation will become very, very dangerous.” He has not commented publicly since the attack.
Image Credit...Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Maggie Haberman
Jonathan Swan
June 21, 2025, 9:22 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
Trump’s decision to bomb Iran injects the U.S. into a Middle East conflict.
Image A man in a dark suit and a red tie walking across a lawn, near an aircraft and a person in a dark uniform.
President Donald Trump walking across the South Lawn as he returns to the White House from Bedminster, N.J., on Saturday.Credit...Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times President Trump announced on Saturday that the U.S. military had bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites, including its uranium-enrichment facility deep underground at Fordo, injecting the United States directly into a war in the Middle East.
The president made the announcement on his social media website, Truth Social, shortly before 8 p.m. in Washington.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space,” the president wrote. “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
The bombing came two days after the White House said Mr. Trump would make a decision “within two weeks” about whether to move ahead with such an attack. Israeli officials were told about the bombing beforehand, and Mr. Trump spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel afterward, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Mr. Trump said he would address the nation on Saturday night from the White House at 10 p.m.
It was not immediately clear how many bombs were dropped, or how much damage was caused to Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium and potentially pursue a nuclear weapon. And Mr. Trump, who had been debating whether to join Israel’s war against Iran, immediately suggested that a diplomatic resolution was still possible. But it was far from clear that Iran would be interested in that.
Since making clear that he was considering striking Iran, Mr. Trump has faced pressure from Republican critics and supporters of such of a move, highlighting a split within his own party.
Some advisers both inside and outside the White House tried to either dissuade him from carrying out a bombing raid and to stick only to providing Israel with support from the intelligence community. Others, accepting that he appeared determined to bomb the nuclear facilities, set their minds to making sure he had a full picture of the potential fallout from such an attack and to limit America’s involvement after the initial strikes.
For months, Vice President JD Vance has warned against the potential of a war aimed at regime change in Iran, and Mr. Trump has privately told advisers and associates in recent days that he has no interest in joining a prolonged war to topple Iran’s leadership.
Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that he does not want to send American troops into battle overseas. Even after Israel began its bombing campaign, Mr. Trump was encouraging Mr. Vance and his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to pursue diplomacy with Iran. The president has expressed frustration at Iranian officials and their slowness to respond to messages. And his team has complained that it’s hard to know whether their Iranian interlocutors are speaking on behalf of the country’s Supreme Leader.
Now, the Trump team is bracing for Iranian retaliation.
Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Trump in a June 9 phone call that he was determined to go ahead with an attack on Iran. Mr. Trump, who had been pushing for a nuclear deal with Iran for months, begrudgingly agreed to provide support from the intelligence community. But when Israel began its airstrikes on Iran, it was still unclear whether Mr. Trump would fully support its mission.
When the Israeli strikes began on June 13, the first statement that came from the administration, from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, distanced America from the war and made no mention of standing with Israel — an extraordinary omission for an American administration.
But by the next morning in the United States, when it appeared that Israel’s first night of strikes had been a success, Mr. Trump began claiming credit for the operation and hinting to reporters that he had more to do with the mission than people realized. That weekend, as he prepared to leave for Canada for the G7 Summit, Mr. Trump said privately that he might need to drop “the big one.” He was referring to the 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, carried by B-2 bombers, that only the U.S. military had in its possession.
Mr. Trump built his political career in part on his denouncement of the war in Iraq following the deadly terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet one of the actions of which he was proudest in his first term was the assassination of the Gen. Qassim Suleimani of Iran, an act that alienated some of his staunchest anti-interventionist supporters but that he repeatedly maintained was necessary and in the United States’ interests.
Show more
Erica L. Green
June 21, 2025, 9:21 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Erica L. GreenReporting from Washington
President Trump, who campaigned on an “America First” platform that was predicated on the United States not engaging in any wars abroad during his time in office, has now decided to enter a war that puts American troops at risk. Our colleagues reported that American officials who reviewed intelligence reports said Iran was prepared to strike U.S. military bases and equipment in the Middle East should the United States join Israel’s war against the country.
Farnaz Fassihi
June 21, 2025, 9:18 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Mehdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said in a post on social media that Iran had been anticipating attacks on Fordo for several nights. “The site had been evacuated a long time ago and the damages are not irreversible,” he wrote, adding, “you cannot bomb knowledge.”
Maggie Haberman
June 21, 2025, 9:17 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Israel was alerted that the bombs were going to be dropped at some point before the strikes happened, and President Trump spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu afterward, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Talya Minsberg
June 21, 2025, 9:15 p.m. ET2 hours ago
Shortly after the U.S. struck key nuclear sites in Iran, Israel placed more stringent wartime restrictions on civilians, signaling a greater threat from Iran.
AND MORE
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I do not like violence ... and this Trump initiative to give massive support to an Israeli goal has me quite conflicted.
I remember the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 (? is that the right date?) and the way Ronald Reagan used that crisis for his own politicla ends. The fact that Iran has emerged as a crisis again 46 years later suggests a rather problematic US global strategy over a very long time.
It appears that B1 bombers have done substantial damage to Iraniain underground munition facilities ... though how much we willl probably never know.
Trump ... to noones surprise is taking a victory lap. Hoe long that will last is uncertain.
Trump's performance in the last 3 / 4 months has been rather pathetic ... and this has the potential to help him reputationally ... but not for long.
Peter Burgess