Trump responds to Israel's series of military strikes against Iran
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President Donald Trump moved quickly to respond to Israel 's series of military strikes against Iran as he tries to avoid World War III. He spoke with several top American news anchors the morning after the strikes, describing the attack as a success. 'I think it's been excellent,' he told ABC News anchor Jon Karl. 'We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. a lot more.'
The president's next major action will take place in a meeting with his National Security Council at 11:00 a.m. EST, a high-stakes meeting where he'll be presented with options to respond to the prospect for a wider, protracted war in the Middle East. The president monitored the ongoing attacks overnight from the White House and posted on Friday morning that Iran still had the chance to 'make a deal.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the president's point person in the ongoing conflict, as the White House national security advisor.
Rubio announced Thursday night that Israel's action against Iran was 'unilateral' and that the United States was not involved. 'Our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,' Rubio announced in a statement. Sill, in a potentially harrowing statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry noted that the United States would be held responsible for Israel's attacks.
'The Zionist regime's aggressive actions against Iran cannot have been carried out without the coordination and authorization of the United States,' they noted. Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier Thursday evening he was aware of the pending Israeli strikes before they took place, but did not intervene to stop them. 'Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb. We'll hopefully get back to the negotiating table,' Trump said. 'There are several people in leadership in Iran who will not be coming back.'
Trump also spoke with CNN host Dana Bash about the strikes and vowed to stand with Israel. 'We of course support Israel, obviously and supported it like nobody has ever supported it,' Trump said, according to Bash. 'Iran should have listened to me when I said - you know I gave them, I don't know if you know but I gave them a 60-day warning and today is day 61,' he added. Rubio warned Iran not to attack any American forces in the region. 'Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel,' he wrote.
The president's decision to allow Israel to strike Iran drew cheers from more hawkish Republicans, who have been urging him to take more aggressive approach in the Middle East. 'Game on,' wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham on social media. 'Pray for Israel.' 'Donald Trump doesn't mess around. Bombs away,' cheered Rep. Randy Fine of Florida on social media after the attacks.
Trump's first Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox News on Friday morning, greeting hosts by noting it was 'a very good morning' 'There was literally zero evidence that the negotiations were going to lead to a good outcome,' he said about Trump's peace talks. 'I think the Israeli leadership finally decided not only did they have the moment to do this, but they had the tools and resources to effectively obliterate much of the Iranian regime's military programs .'
Pompeo cheered on the strikes as a demonstration of 'Western resolve' to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 'This was the go time,' Pompeo said about the attacks. 'I hope they stay in this. They need to continue this until they complete the effort to diminish Iran's nuclear program in a way that we get a decade or two of respite. I don't think the ayatollah going to change his ways.' Trump shared his thoughts on the strike on social media, reminding Americans he gave Iran a 'chance' to make a deal.
'I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done,' he said, noting that he warned them of Israel's potential attacks. Trump blamed Iranian hardliners for failing to move on negotiations. 'Certain Iranian hardliner's spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!' he wrote. The president signaled his openness to ongoing peace talks, warning of Israel's 'more brutal' efforts to conduct more military strikes.
'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire,' he wrote. 'No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!' Trump's special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to attend peace talks in Oman on Sunday and still intends to keep his end of the deal, according to Axios. Iran announced on state television it will not participate in any future nuclear peace talks.
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Leader Live
24 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Trump says Israel and Iran will come to deal ‘soon'
Mr Trump in an early morning social meeting posting said the United States 'had nothing to do with the attack on Iran' as Israel and Iran traded missile attacks for the third straight day. 'The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and… — The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 15, 2025 Iran, however, has said that it would hold the US, which has provided Israel with much of its deep arsenal of weaponry, for its backing of Israel. Israel targeted Iran's Defence Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defences and slammed into buildings deep inside the country. Mr Trump said: 'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.' Hours later, the US president took to social media again to predict that 'Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal'. The US president made the claim that he has built a track record for de-escalating conflicts, and that he would get Israel and Iran to cease hostilities 'just like I got India and Pakistan to' after the two countries' recent cross-border confrontation. Mr Trump also pointed to efforts by his administration during his first term to mediate disputes between Serbia and Kosovo and Egypt and Ethiopia. 'Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!' Mr Trump said. 'Many calls and meetings now taking place. I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!' The growing conflict between Israel and Iran is testing Mr Trump, who ran on a promise to quickly end the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine and build a foreign policy that more broadly favours steering clear of foreign conflicts. Mr Trump has struggled to find an endgame to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. And after criticising President Joe Biden during last year's campaign for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Mr Trump found himself making the case to the Israelis to give diplomacy a chance. His administration's push on Tehran to give up its nuclear program came after the US and other world powers reached a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement in 2015 that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Mr Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday about the growing Israel-Iran conflict, and he is set to travel to Canada for Group of Seven leaders summit where the Mideast crisis will loom large over his talks with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan and the European Union.
Daily Mail
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump in Iran crisis: MAGA descends into mutiny as Israel threatens to take out Ayatollah in regime change plot
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Speaking with ABC News Sunday morning, Trump addressed reports that Israel was encouraging Administration to join the conflict with Iran to eliminate its nuclear program. "We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved," the president said. 'The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,' the president wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Sunday morning. Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Iran's Khamenei, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior U.S. administration official. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict. Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4 p.m. on Sunday in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iran has not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran. Municipal workers clear the wreckage and debris in the northern Israeli town of Tamra, following an overnight missile attack from Iran on June 15, 2025, where four people were reported killed. Israel unleashed a punishing barrage of strikes targeting the capital Tehran on June 15, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Iran pay "a very heavy price" for killing civilians, on the third day of fierce fighting To win re-election last November, Trump had to build a coalition of powerful allies across media, politics, and business. Now, some of his most vocal public backers are distancing themselves from some of the president's biggest moves, including right-wing media mogul Tucker Carlson. A Former Fox News primetime dynamo, Carlson was one of the very vocal allies Trump brought into the GOP fold last year, but their post-election honeymoon may be over. In a Friday newsletter post for his own media outlet - The Tucker Carlson Network - Carlson and his team wrote 'This Could Be the Final Newsletter Before All-Out War.' 'On Thursday, Iran 's president threatened to 'destroy' any country that eliminates his government's nuclear facilities,' TCN wrote. 'Now, the world will learn what that looks like,' they concluded. Trump's winning November coalition also heavily featured populist conservatives, may of whom consider Steve Bannon - a former Breitbart editor and a chief White House strategist from Trump's first term - to be their ringleader. Bannon, who also has built his own media empire around his War Room podcast, noted during a Friday episode of the show that he believed the Israeli government was attempting trying to pull America into a war with Iran, saying they 'want us to go on offense' against Tehran. Both inside and outside of government, the current GOP coalition has wide-ranging set of views on the level of American interventionism that is required on the global stage, particularly in the Middle East. The intra-MAGA split on foreign policy appears to be far-reaching, even extending as far at the leadership at the Pentagon itself. Semafor reports that the nation's top military officials have competing visions about how involved America should be with Israel. 'US military leaders, including the chief of US Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, have requested more resources to support and defend Israel,' Semafor notes. 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Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., questions Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Washington 'Donald Trump doesn't mess around. Bombs away,' cheered Rep. Randy Fine of Florida on social media after the attacks. Trump's first Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox News on Friday morning, greeting hosts by noting it was 'a very good morning' 'There was literally zero evidence that the negotiations were going to lead to a good outcome,' he said about Trump's peace talks. 'I think the Israeli leadership finally decided not only did they have the moment to do this, but they had the tools and resources to effectively obliterate much of the Iranian regime's military programs.' Pompeo cheered on the strikes as a demonstration of 'Western resolve' to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Speaking with ABC News Sunday morning, Trump addressed reports that Israel was encouraging Administration to join the conflict with Iran to eliminate its nuclear program. 'We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,' the president told ABC News. Trump also addressed a rumor that Russian president Vladimir Putin way be open to serving as a mediator between Iran and Israel. 'Yeah, I would be open to it. He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation. This is something I believe is going to get resolved,' the president said of his Russian counterpart to ABC News. On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump himself often promised to be a peacemaker and the conflict between Israel and Gaza, as well as Russia and Ukraine. During a rally in Washington, D.C. the day before he was sworn in for a second term this past January, Trump declared,'I will end the war in Ukraine, stop the chaos in the Middle East and prevent World War III from happening, and you have no idea how close we are.'
The Guardian
40 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘There's a smell of death in the air': chaos in Tehran as residents try to flee or find shelter
It was just past 4pm when Nahid's windows began to shake. An Israeli bomb hit a building nearby – he could not see where – and soon his house began to fill up with smoke. It was the third day of Israeli bombing of Iran and the situation in Tehran was just getting worse. 'This is a massacre. The blasts haven't stopped. Children are crying and we fear many civilians have been killed. There's a smell of death in the air. I can't stop crying,' Nahid*, a 25-year-old finance analyst at an e-commerce company in Tehran, told the Guardian via text. Residents began to flee Tehran and head towards the countryside on Sunday as Israeli attacks on the Iranian capital escalated, with bombs raining down on the residential buildings and government buildings alike. Authorities gave no official death toll, but at least 138 people have been killed and hundreds wounded by strikes on Iran since Friday. The bombing started early on Friday morning when Israel launched hundreds of strikes in what it said was an operation aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles and has continued to hit Israel, killing 10 people, including three children, in strikes on residential buildings on Saturday night. As the conflict continued to escalate, Iranian authorities announced they would open Tehran's metro stations and schools to use as shelters. 'Unfortunately, we in Tehran and in other cities do not have shelters,' said Mehdi Chamran, the chair of the city council, as he urged civilians to use tunnels and basements as makeshift bomb shelters. The ferocity of the Israeli assault on Tehran caught both Iran's citizens and government by surprise, as Israel's jets flew with virtual freedom over Iranian skies. While Iranian missiles flew towards Israel, its military seemed incapable of stopping Israeli attacks. 'We are not confident mosques, schools or metro stations will be safe. What if we get buried under? My sisters and I are going to urge my parents and neighbours to leave home,' Nahid said. There were scenes of chaos on Tehran's streets as residents rushed to buy food amid bombings before shops shut. 'People are running around in the streets and screaming. It's extremely dangerous to step outside now but we don't have an option,' said Reza*, a students from the University of Tehran. The 21-year-old described long lines at petrol stations as he and others filled their cars before making the journey out of the city. While residents queued for fuel, or for cash at ATMs, a sense of panic began to spread as the strikes were joined by car-bombings, reportedly targeting Iranian nuclear scientists. People struggled to contact their loved ones as Iran's mobile phone network failed, giving only sporadic coverage. Experts said Israel's attack had come at a critical point for the Iranian government, which has been rocked by protests in recent years and by a deepening economic crisis. 'This war comes at a most acute situation domestically, because we have the gravest economic crisis for decades,' said Dr Ali Fathollah-Nejad, the founder and director of the Center for Middle East and Global Order. Prices of food and other essential goods have skyrocketed over the past year as the Iran's currency, the rial, rapidly depreciated. Trump quickly signed an executive order after retaking office in January that tightened sanctions against Iran, choking off oil exports from the already beleaguered economy. Fathollah-Nejad said the economic crisis had been one of the key factors alongside military pressure that pushed the Iranian government towards diplomacy with the US, with which it had been negotiating over its nuclear programme for the past couple of months. Online, Iranians took to social media to mock the government's lack of preparedness, sharing videos of top military officials saying Israel would never dare to attack Iran. Officials had previously trumpeted Iran's ability to deter strikes through its fierce military capabilities. Within Iran, state TV replayed footage of Iranian strikes on Israel and played down the impact of Israeli attacks. The feeling of being under attack has prompted a sense of unity among some Iranians. 'We have been hearing the rumours of regime change, especially by the Israelis and Americans. It seems more like a joke,' said Hadi*, a Tehran resident who is in his 60s. He added that among his friends, those who were initially against Iran developing nuclear weapons now felt the country needed a an atomic arsenal to defend itself from Israel. 'Many Iranians may criticise the government and object to the strategies, but history has proven that Iranians unite when attacked by a foreign country,' Hadi said. * Some names have been changed
