U.S. braces for Iran's response after strikes on nuclear sites: Weekend Rundown

NBC News

4 hours ago

The United States is bracing for Iran's response after President Donald Trump launched punishing strikes on Iranian nuclear energy sites Saturday. It was the first time the U.S. has directly bombed the Islamic Republic.
The U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities, including the key Fordo site, with 14 GBU-57s, 30,000-pound 'bunker buster bombs,' according to the U.S. military.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that while the U.S. did not want war, it will 'act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened.'
The few days are of particular concern, according to two defense officials and a senior White House official. It's unclear whether any retaliation would target overseas or domestic locations, or both, the officials said.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of 'everlasting consequences,' experts say the country has limited options.
Constraints
Iran's capacity to strike is narrower than it once was.
H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, told NBC News that Iran still has the power to attack, 'but only because Israelis haven't taken out all of their missile launchers.' Iran still has around 40% of its launchers, Hellyer said.
Iran's proxy network has also been battered by years of attrition with Israel and the U.S. Its most important ally, Hezbollah in Lebanon, has indicated it would not join the fight against Israel.
Iran may also lack staunch support from its neighbors — some Gulf nations stopped short of condemning the U.S. attacks on Iran, calling instead for de-escalation.
Cyber threats
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' cyber capabilities are formidable, and the U.S. considers Iran one of its four major adversaries in cyberspace along with China, North Korea and Russia.
While Iran lacks Russia's robust cybercrime syndicates or China's vast teams of sophisticated digital spies, the U.S. has in recent years accused Iranians of working for the IRGC.
If Iran conduct retaliatory cyberattacks, they would come in the wake of several rounds of cuts to the Trump administration's top civilian cyber defense agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. CISA's two former directors have both warned that the administration's cuts make U.S. infrastructure more vulnerable to hackers.
'Meet the Press'
Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is not at war with Iran, but with Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
During an interview on NBC News' 'Meet the Press,' moderator Kristen Welker asked the vice president whether the U.S. was now at war with Iran.
'We're not at war with Iran,' Vance said. 'We're at war with Iran's nuclear program.'
Vance also declined to confirm with 100% confidence that the country's nuclear sites had been completely destroyed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., meanwhile, brushed off concerns that Trump had acted without authorization from Congress.
'Congress can declare war or cut off funding. We can't be the commander in chief. You can't have 535 commander in chiefs,' Graham said, referring to the number of representatives and senators.
But Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said that the president can act militarily 'when there's a clear and imminent threat to U.S. citizens, to the United States, to the homeland.'
'That wasn't the case here,' Kelly said.
Politics in brief
Flip-flop: Across the country, 20-point margins in counties Republicans were winning at the turn of the century have turned into 50-point margins or more in recent years. Political competitiveness at the local level is being replaced by landslide loyalty to a single party.
Fighting on: After more than three months in ICE detention, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil returned to the New York area, where his harrowing ordeal first began — and vowed to keep speaking out against the war in Gaza.
Well, that's 'awkward': Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is considering a run for president in 2028, and admits the potential of taking on his friend and ally Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is 'going to be awkward.'
War on porn brings together strange bedfellows
Feminists, religious crusaders and 'alpha male' influencers are unlikely allies in the decades-old battle over adult content — and they're on a winning streak.
Anti-porn campaigners have pushed states into implementing online age verification laws, while some politicians are pursuing aggressive bans on explicit content.
Culturally, the view that porn is harmful not only to women but increasingly also to men and to the sexual development of young people has made significant inroads.
Once viewed as a fringe moral crusade, the war against porn has ballooned into a multipronged, mainstream force over the past decade. Porn industry leaders have acknowledged their ongoing battle with deepfakes, underage content and revenge porn, including Pornhub, which removed millions of unverified videos from its website in 2020 following allegations that the site showed problematic content.
Gail Dines, a key figure in the anti-porn movement for over 30 years, said the goal isn't necessarily to ban porn, but argued the industry has 'sowed the seeds of its own destruction.'
NBA to crown its champion in Game 7
It all comes down to this. The NBA Finals. Game 7. The Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy on the line.
After a postseason filled with memorable games (and a handful of wild Indiana Pacers comebacks), the NBA will decide its champion when the Oklahoma City Thunder and star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander host Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers at the Paycom Center.
NBC News will be covering Game 7 live from OKC. .
Notable quote
I think their parents did not raise them well enough.
Esther Yang, New York City yoga instructor
A cast of scandal-plagued candidates is testing the limits of what New York City voters will forgive, with Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams and Anthony Weiner bringing no shortage of baggage to their political campaigns this year.
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