The Americans want the attack on Iran's nuclear sites to be a 'one-and-done'
The Pentagon briefing was big on what happened but short on detail of what happens next.
Neither defence secretary Pete Hegseth nor General Dan "Raisin" Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, can answer that.
Mr Hegseth called the bombing an "incredible and overwhelming success" with "focused and clear" instructions from President Trump.
The focus now is on what follows and that's not so clear.
The briefing laid out the details of the military deception plan behind Operation Midnight Hammer.
B-2 stealth aircraft were flown west towards the Pacific on Saturday as a decoy, while the B-2s with bunker-busting bombs on board flew east towards Iran.
1:15
Mr Hegseth called it a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and came down, in the end, to "precision, misdirection and operational security".
Gen Caine, Mr Trump's top military man, offered a measured assessment. While Mr Trump had spoken of Iran's nuclear sites being "obliterated", Gen Caine revised that downwards when he spoke of "extremely severe damage".
Full battle damage assessment will reveal the complete picture - only then can the mission's success be measured in full, mindful that Iran had shifted at least some of its enriched uranium in the days before the strike.
On the politics of it, Mr Hegseth said this wasn't about regime change in Iran. It might offer precious little reassurance to Tehran, particularly as he also said part of the operation was to defend Israel and the ongoing defence of Israel.
2:38
If the US is tethered to Israel's interests to the extent of an unprecedented attack on Iran, where does its influence end?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared almost giddy in response to the US attack. He is a PM strengthened by Mr Trump's spectacular response to his rhetoric around Iran.
Suspicions weren't softened around Netanyahu's influence over Mr Trump when Mr Hegseth was asked about the basis for the attack. He has long lobbied the US president on Iran being close to building a nuclear bomb, contrary to American intelligence which indicates otherwise.
Mr Hegseth was asked what was the new intelligence, was it American or from other countries? He avoided a direct answer, saying only that Mr Trump had looked at all the intelligence information and concluded Iran was a threat.
There were a number of questions about what comes next, with an assortment of non-answers in response from Mr Hegseth.
4:00
A consistent line was that the US wanted Iran to negotiate peace, coupled with the threat of further aggression if it doesn't.
The US defence secretary said Washington was in touch with Tehran privately and publicly, giving it every opportunity to come to the table, every opportunity for peace.
He made the point that America hadn't targeted Iranian troops or civilians - clearly, a measure by the US to limit response and leave open a door.
The Americans want this attack to have been a "one-and-done".
The scenario it's left with, however, is an Iran talking of a diplomatic door closed and sending its foreign minister travelling to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.
Iran is wounded, no doubt. Combined attacks have left it degraded and, without a network of support in the Middle East, its ability to strike back is limited. For now, if not necessarily forever.
Donald Trump clearly enjoyed the sugar rush of military success but he will be wary of the come-down and all of its uncertainties.
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Times
41 minutes ago
- Times
Iran has the most to risk if it declares war on the world
Even if its nuclear programme has been crippled for now, Iran still has a formidable weapon at the ready: geography. On Sunday, hours after the attack on its nuclear sites, Iran was disrupting GPS signals on the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is an energy chokepoint, as narrow as the eye of a needle: barely 24 miles wide, it is the route through which 25 per cent of the world's oil and 30 per cent of its liquefied natural gas travels. There has already been talk of Iranian submarines planting mines along the way. A crude way of turning what started as a war between Israel and Iran, which mutated into the US and Israel versus Tehran, into Iran versus the world. The move, though passed by Iran 's rubber-stamp parliament, is still subject to approval by the top leadership. Its effects would be potentially devastating for developed economies everywhere with oil prices storming beyond $100 a barrel, pushing up household bills, fuel prices and food prices. What could the embattled Iranian regime hope to achieve by doing that? The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may not much care as he hides in his bunker. At 86, with his political authority seeping away, he may believe that posing as a global disruptor is at least historically consistent for someone who rose to power in the 1979 toppling of the pro-western Shah. If he can't blow up the region (and the verdict is still out on how much damage was done to Iran's nuclear plants in the US raid), then he can at least give the Great Satan a bloody nose. Strangely, though, the blocking of Hormuz might turn out to be even more suicidal for the regime than accelerating its nuclear programme. Iran depends on the income it gets from selling oil to its ally and customer China and the well-disposed (if officially neutral) India. If the strait closed, that revenue would stop and the pressure for regime change within Iran would only grow. Saudi Arabia, Iran's arch rival, would fortify its position as a regional and broadly western-aligned leader. The only rational political argument for Iran closing the strait is to nudge China into playing a more active role as a mediator with the US — and that doesn't look like happening. The manner of the US attack — a one-off strike rather than a precursor for a wider war — has the approval of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel. In that sense it resembles Trump's order during his first term to assassinate the Iranian Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani: an act of controlled state violence that is supposed to close a chapter rather than signal a new phase in a forever war. The White House will have calculated that any possible Iranian response — attacking US bases in the region or a mass drone attack by Iran's Houthi allies on Saudi oil facilities — will merely deepen the isolation of the Tehran regime. Iran, once a proud member of the Crinks club of autocrats (China, Russia, North Korea), now finds itself shunned. Apart from the Houthis in Yemen, who said on Sunday that they were preparing to attack US vessels in the Red Sea, Iran's proxy armies are exhausted and certainly not up for a fight against America. It could be that North Korea lends a hand in rebuilding Iran's nuclear programme, but Russia's offer to control the enrichment of uranium is almost certainly off the table. It only ever made sense if Vladimir Putin could present Moscow as a diplomatic equal of Washington. Trump's bombing raid has wrong-footed the Kremlin and may force it to re-think its whole alignment with Iran. Has the weekend attack made the world safer? Many political decision-makers will be conducting a thought experiment over the next few days. An angry Iran is threatening to close down global trade. How much worse would that be if it were a nuclear-armed power making that same threat? Iran may now withdraw from the nuclear proliferation treaty. Again, will that lead to a more dangerous or a safer world? So far, at least, most of Iran's neighbours may be sleeping better at night.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump suggests regime change in Iran – hours after Vance and Hegseth insisted that was not the plan
Just hours after Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that there was no plan for the U.S. to push for regime change in Iran, President Donald Trump suggested he was open to the idea. After the U.S. joined Israel's air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear sites on Saturday with an audacious strike using bunker-busting bombs launched from B-2 bombers, Vance appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday morning. The vice president said that the administration's view 'has been very clear that we don't want a regime change.' He added: 'We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it's already been built out. We want to end their nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here.' However, by late afternoon, a different message emerged from the White House. The president posted on Truth Social: 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' It is the first time Trump has raised the possibility of regime change in Iran, or encouraged it, since Israel launched air strikes against the nation ten days ago. It is also a change of tune for Trump, who has criticized neo-conservatives in the Republican Party for years for their support for regime changes, most notably in Iraq. Vance is not alone in stressing that the goal is not to topple the government in Tehran. Other administration officials have said that the goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Also on Sunday morning, Secretary Hegseth insisted the Trump administration 'does not seek war' and is not trying to force regime change. 'Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,' Hegseth told reporters in a briefing, adding that the strikes did not target Iranian troops or people. Vance reiterated that message during his NBC appearance, describing it as 'an incredibly targeted attack' while admitting it is 'an incredibly delicate moment.' Of the possibility of Iran responding by attacking U.S. troops, the vice president said it would be 'the stupidest thing in the world,' and would be 'met with overwhelming force.' 'If the Iranians are smart, they are going to have to look in the mirror and say, 'Maybe we are not so good at this war thing, let's give peace a chance, let's drop our nuclear weapons programme and start to make some smart decisions',' he added. In other posts, Trump said the damage to Iran's nuclear sites is said to be 'monumental' thanks to 'hard and accurate' hits by the military, and thanked the B-2 crews for 'a job well done' when they landed back in Missouri. Iran's U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, speaking at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, said that the U.S. 'decided to destroy diplomacy' with its strikes on the country's nuclear program and that the Iranian military will decide the 'timing, nature and scale of Iran's proportionate response.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
In Los Angeles' Little Persia, US strikes on Iran met with celebration
LOS ANGELES, June 22 (Reuters) - In the cafes and restaurants of Little Persia, a Los Angeles enclave of about half a million Iranian-Americans, hatred for Iran's Islamic government is red hot and widely felt. What's less agreed upon is whether American and Israeli forces should have launched strikes on nuclear and military facilities in Iran, including the dropping of 30,000-pound U.S. bunker-busting bombs ordered by President Donald Trump on Saturday. Within this huge Iranian diaspora in western Los Angeles, the largest Persian community outside Iran, Iranian Jews interviewed by Reuters said they are all in on Israeli and U.S. bombing raids, and want to see more. Iranian Muslims in the area - also called Little Tehran or Tehrangeles - were more ambivalent, with many suspicious of Israel and wary of America getting embroiled in another Middle Eastern conflict. Most of the two dozen people who spoke to Reuters did not want their full names published or their pictures taken, such is their fear of the Islamic Republic led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. All still have relatives there. Reza, a 38-year-old college professor who left Iran 15 years ago, says he received a call from an Iranian official last year from his sister's mobile phone. He was told that if he did not stop publishing anti-Islamic Republic posts on his social media accounts, his sister could be in danger. "It's a very sensitive topic. I am definitely happy Israel and the U.S. are destroying their nuclear program. I don't trust the Iranian regime having access to nuclear technology," said Reza, an Iranian Muslim. "But I'm also sad for my family there. The people are suffering. It's a very scary time. And I do not like the U.S. getting involved in another war." Three blocks away, outside a Starbucks coffee shop, seven men, mostly Iranian Jews, were discussing the war between Israel and Iran, now in its second week, and the bombing of three nuclear sites by the U.S. on Saturday. The world braced on Sunday for Iran's response after the U.S. joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. Outside the Starbucks, the mood was celebratory. "This regime should not exist anymore, they torture their own people, they put their own people in prison. These mullahs are causing problems all across the Middle East and the world," said Shawn, 72, a mortgage broker. Iran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States and has said it will consider all possible responses. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful and its U.N. Ambassador has accused Israel and the U.S. of destroying diplomacy. Sol, 58, who left Iran in 1983 and has relatives in Iran and Israel, said the group outside Starbucks had been celebrating since Israel began striking Iran earlier this month. "Israel is doing a very good job. God Bless them," he said. "We want those mullahs out!" Roozbeh, 48, a mechanical engineer who left Iran in 2007, said he was worried about his parents and two brothers still in Iran and had just spoken to them. "They are in the north. Israel bombed it for the first time yesterday," he said. "I hope the Israeli military action will bring down the regime, of course." Younger Iranian-Americans also expressed their hatred for the Islamic Republic - but were far more skeptical about Israeli and U.S. strikes on the country. Raha, 33, was born in the U.S. Her parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution, which led to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed government and the creation of the Islamic Republic. Raha has visited relatives in Iran about 10 times. On one visit she says she had an encounter with the "morality police," because her hijab headdress had slipped. She recalled the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian who died in a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian capital, after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in accordance with the Islamic government's standards. Raha said she and her friends celebrated when an Israeli strike killed the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps this month. "That's a good thing. We want them all down," Raha said. "I absolutely want to see the regime in Iran fall."
