President Donald Trump orders airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.
The conflict between Israel and Iran began on June 13, when Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran. The attack killed three of Iran’s top military officials: Armed Forces leader Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Salami and head of the Guard’s missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
As a response, Iran launched missiles in the country’s capital, Tel Aviv. They struck many important military sites in retaliation to the attacks.
The reason for the war started when Israel claimed that Iran was violating its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) with the United Nations after stating that they would be building a third nuclear enrichment facility. As a result, Israel bombed major nuclear sites to prevent the nation from the possibility of creating any nuclear weapons. Iran’s major nuclear sites include: Tabriz, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Boroujerd, Isfahan, Natanz, Fordo, Tehran and Shiraz.
President Trump threatened to airstrike Iran’s nuclear facilities if a resolution was not met between the two countries.
In March, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to Congress regarding Iran’s nuclear program. She revealed that the intelligence community (IC) assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, and that their leader Ali Khamenei did not authorize its nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003. She concluded that the IC will continue to monitor and evaluate if Tehran will decide to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program. While Iran did have uranium levels that were recorded as much higher than before, she believed that the country was not currently in hold of a nuclear weapon.
As a response to her testimony, President Trump dismissed her statements, stating that he “didn’t care” and still believed that Iran was inching closer to creating nuclear weapons.
On June 20, Gabbard took to X to respond to her past claims and President Trump’s remarks.
“The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that it can’t happen, and I agree,” said Gabbard.
On June 21, President Trump delivered an Address to the Nation after launching an airstrike on three Iranian nuclear sites.
“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 horrible 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,” said President Trump. “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. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”
In 2015, President Barack Obama created a nuclear deal with Iran’s capital Tehran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal limited Iran’s nuclear abilities with an ease on sanctions in return.
However, in 2018, President Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal and implemented more sanctions on the country. In return, Iran began to obtain uranium levels that were higher than the deal originally imposed.
Members of Congress and the government have mixed opinions about the President’s decision to bomb Iran.
While on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Vice President JD Vance stated that the U.S. was “not at war” with Iran, but was instead “at war with Iran’s nuclear program.” In addition, he was also asked as to whether or not the three nuclear sites were completely destroyed. While he refused to give “sensitive intelligence” away, he stated that there was a lot of damage based on what they had seen.
“I feel very confident that we’ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon, and that was the goal of this attack,” Vice President Vance said.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine held a press conference shortly after the attacks.
Hegseth noted that their target was not Iranian troops or the Iranian people, but rested solely on their nuclear program. The plan apparently took months of positioning and preparation in order to launch the successful attack.
“The mission demonstrated to the world the level of joint and allied integration that speak to the strength of our alliance and our joint forces,” said Hegseth. “As President Trump has stated, the United States does not seek war, but let me be clear, we will act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened.”
Some lawmakers disagreed with the President’s choice of ordering such an attack without Congressional opinion. Last week, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, co-authored a bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California.
President Trump did not officially declare war on Iran, as that power must be granted by Congress. However, the War Powers Resolution states that the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of military action. Many lawmakers argued that President Trump did not notify them, nor did he ask for their approval.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune were both notified before the attacks were launched. The two Republican leaders argued that Trump did notify Congress before launching the airstrikes, however the lack of Democratic involvement has led to many politicians calling out the president’s actions.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders learned of the attacks during his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when an audience member shouted the news. The longtime politician appeared shocked to hear the announcement, then received the official confirmation when a staff member gave him a piece of paper that had President Trump’s Address to the Nation.
As Sanders read the statement given by the president, audience members began to chant “no more war” in response to the attacks. Sanders stated that the action was “grossly unconstitutional” as the President does not have the right to launch major attacks without Congressional knowledge or approval.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to social media to express her frustration with the President’s decision as well. She also argued that his decision was violating the U.S. Constitution and risks the possibility for further violence and war, stating that his action was “clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Many Republicans agree that the attacks should have been made. Missouri Rep. Mark Alford praised President Trump and the airmen of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, stating that it should also “put Xi and Putin on notice.” He and many other government officials believe that this will resolve the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been an avid supporter of Israel during the conflict, believing that this was the “correct move” by the President, and stated that “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”
Iran responded to the attacks, stating that they will not be surrendering to Israel or the U.S. Shortly after the bombings, Iran threatened to hit U.S. military bases across the country.
“The criminal US must know that in addition to punishing its illegitimate and aggressive offspring [Israel], the hands of Islam’s fighters within the armed forces have been freed to take any action against its interests and military, and we will never back down in this regard, said chief of staff of Iranian armed forces Abdolrahim Mousavi.
Iranian lawmakers are now supporting a bill to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and suspend their cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The final vote will be up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
On June 23, Iran launched a missile attack on the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base located in Qatar. However, the U.S. and Qatari government stated that the missiles were destroyed before reaching its target. No injuries or deaths were reported. A drone attack was also reported on a military base in Iraq, with no deaths or injuries noted.
Iran gave an early notice before launching the attack. President Trump thanked Iran for the early notice, and was hopeful that they could all “now proceed to Peace and Harmony.”
Shortly after the attack, President Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.
“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” said Trump in a statement posted on Truth Social. “On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage and Intelligence to end what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.”
Minor conflicts continued after the announcement of the ceasefire. Israel had accused Iran of launching missiles and the truce was supposed to be in effect. As a result, Israel struck a radar site north of Tehran, killing two senior military officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since committed to not launching more attacks.
As of now, at least 28 deaths have been reported and more than 1,000 have been injured in Israel. In Iran, at least 974 people have been killed and 3,458 have been wounded.
