Last night, President Trump ordered airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. This after announcing on Thursday that he would review his options for two weeks before making a decision on taking such a precipitous step. It also betrays the president’s oft-stated election promise not to get the U.S. involved in a distant foreign conflict. Mr. Trump said he acted to deny Iran the ability to threaten Israel with a nuclear weapon, which he claims they were in the final stages of developing.
This differs greatly from statements made by his intelligence community, including U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has publicly stated that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons through its refinement efforts. It also raises a question about executive branch power and the role of Congress in taking military action against another sovereign state.
Attack on Iran
The president announced the airstrikes through a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, last night. He informed the nation that at 2:30 am Iran time, the United States had successfully bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan facilities. Their primary target, Fordo, a deep mountain site, was hit by six “bunker buster bombs.” And Natanz, the largest uranium enrichment site in the country, was hit by multiple cruise missiles launched from submarines.
President Trump, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State/Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, informed the U.S. public about the attacks in a televised address at 10 pm last night. The president said this about the attacks in his address.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier. Tonight’s was the most difficult of targets, 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. There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close.”
But were Iran’s nuclear facilities “totally obliterated” by the attack? Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said in a Sunday morning press conference that the three sites sustained substantial damage but that it was unclear whether Iran still possessed nuclear capabilities until further analysis was completed.
Reaction and Response
Republicans, even those who have been hawkish regarding our Iran policy, were almost universally supportive of Mr. Trump’s actions. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, “The President’s decisive action prevents the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants’ Death to America,’ from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s most consistent hawks, expressed similar support, saying, “the bombing was the right call, and that the regime deserves it.” But, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) had plans to force a vote on his resolution to block action against Iran without congressional authorization as soon as this week. Kaine said on X, “The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the U.S. waging war on Iran.”
And Iran wasted no time in its response to the U.S. aggression. This morning, they launched missile strikes on four sites within Israel (Haifa, Tel Aviv, Be’er Yaakov, and Nes Ziona), injuring 21 people. Also today, Iran’s parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil exports from the Middle East. Approximately 20% of the world’s oil flows through the area, and its closure would result in increased fuel costs worldwide, including in the United States.
Fallout
No one knows for certain what global destabilization will result in response to these airstrikes. Iran has already responded both militarily and economically. The gravest concern for the United States are the 40,000 active service members stationed all over the Middle East. Ensuring all of their safety is virtually impossible.
Iran has never taken threats to its sovereignty lightly in the past, and it doesn’t appear that they will this time. And will President Trump plunge the U.S. into a conflict he strenuously campaigned against: a missionless war abroad with no endgame?
