Israel-Iran war: Trump weighs direct U.S. involvement

UPI

4 hours ago

1 of 2 | Israeli emergency rescuers inspect the site of a missile fired from Iran into Tel Aviv on Monday.. Photo by Magen David Adom /UPI | License Photo
June 18 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump was weighing overnight whether to take the country to war with Iran after an emergency meeting of his national security team in the White House.
The 80-minute Situation Room meeting of Trump's key Cabinet officials Tuesday evening concluded without a clear consensus, CBS News reported, but one option on the table was sending U.S. bombers to destroy underground nuclear sites that are impenetrable to Israeli warplanes.
The network said senior intelligence and Defense Department officials had told it that Iran's heavily fortified Fordow uranium enrichment plant, 300 feet under a mountain near Qom and 85 miles south of Tehran, was one possible target.
Fordow was believed to be the facility most likely to reach a critical threshold where Iran's nuclear development program -- which it has always insisted is for civilian purposes only -- crosses into a program capable of producing a nuclear warhead.
However, there was disagreement at the meeting attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and CIA Director John Ratcliffe over exactly what the United States' next step should be.
Israeli airstrikes on the facility with bunker-busting bombs have thus far failed to penetrate the facility, with the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it had sustained no damage as of Monday.
"No damage has been seen at the site of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or at the Khondab heavy water reactor, which is under construction. Bushehr nuclear power plant has not been targeted nor affected by the recent attacks, and neither has the Tehran Research Reactor," IAEA Secretary General Rafael Grossi told the agency's board.
However, he said Israeli strikes had caused considerable damage to above-ground facilities at Esfahan and Natanz, with one of the plants having produced U-235 uranium enriched up to 60%.
Naturally occurring U-235 uranium contains only a tiny proportion of chain-reacting U-235 isotope and must be "enriched" 3% to 5% for nuclear power purposes. To become weapons-grade, U-235 needs to be enriched to above 90%, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, although the super-enriched uranium is also used to produce isotopes used for nuclear medicine scans and radiotherapy.
The United States has powerful weapons that could, with repeated hits, penetrate a facility such as Fordow.
The BBC reported that would require deployment of America's so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bomb delivered by the U.S. Air Force's B-2 stealth bomber, which can carry two of the monster munitions.
As the conflict entered its sixth day, Israel said it launched airstrikes involving 50 fighter jets overnight against a uranium centrifuge production site and multiple weapons facilities critical to Iran's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces said the centrifuges made at the plant were for enriching uranium beyond civilian levels. Other sites hit included a facility making parts for surface-to-surface missiles used against Israel and another plant making surface-to-air missile components used to target aircraft.
The IDF said the strikes "directly degraded" Iran's ability to threaten Israel and the wider region.
"We have delivered significant blows to the Iranian regime, and as such, they have been pushed back into central Iran. They are now focusing their efforts on conducting missile fire from the area of Isfahan. We are aiming at military targets; they are attacking civilian homes," IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said.
Air raid sirens sounded across large swathes of central and northern Israel just before midnight local time after Iran launched a salvo of missiles at the country, including so-called "Fattah-1" hypersonic missiles.
Warnings sounded again across a smaller area in the north-east about 4.30 a.m. due to what the IDF called "hostile aircraft infiltration."
Trump and Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei embarked on a war of words Tuesday with the Trump saying Khamenei would be an "easy target" if the United States and Israel chose to take him out. Trump also called for Tehran's "unconditional surrender."
"The battle begins," Khamenei threatened in a social media post invoking Shia Islam's Haider, the first Shia Imam and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, accompanied by an image of fire raining down on a city.
We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy."