The Trump administration is urging Iran to pursue peace, and warning against retaliation, after carrying out strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump announced the US strikes on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan sites Saturday. There are indirect outreaches to Iran post strikes, according to a source familiar with the efforts.
“The damage to the Nuclear sites in Iran is said to be ‘monumental.’ The hits were hard and accurate,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Sunday.
The military dubbed it ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ marking the first operational use of so-called bunker buster bombs.
“It took a great deal of precision. It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said.
The action comes after Trump set a maximum two week timelines as he decided the US’ next steps towards Iran.
Trump had sought and appeared to prefer a negotiated nuclear deal, but consistently warned that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. Israel’s campaign against the country started one day after Iran passed Trump’s 60 day deadline to reach a deal with the United States.
“There was certainly a moment in time where he realized that it had to be a certain action taken in order to minimize the threat to us and our troops,” Hegseth said.
Friday evening, Trump told reporters “two weeks would be the maximum” and that he was giving “time to see whether or not people come to their sense.”
Trump returned to the White House 6pm Saturday, and according to reports, went quickly to the West Wing, where he was scheduled to meet with his national security team.
Less than an hour later, the U.S. had started hitting its targets, with an element of surprise maintained, according to defense leaders.
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“In total, U.S. forces employed approximately 75 precision guided weapons during this operation. This included, as the President stated last night, fourteen 30,000 pound GBU, 57 massive ordinance penetrators, marking the first ever operational use of this weapon,” said Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Caine said the operation involved a decoy flight that went to the west, while seven B-2 bombers went east. The combined forces dropped bunker busting bombs on two target areas, while launching more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against surface infrastructure targets at Esfahan, according to Caine. Caine said they were unaware of shots fired at the strike package.
“Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” he said.
Trump announced the operation on social media less than an hour after the strikes concluded. By 10pm he addressed the nation, warning Iran they must make peace or face future attacks.
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left,” Trump said.
“it's nice and critical to have air superiority, but that doesn't translate to ground superiority," said Tom Karako, who direct the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And so there's all kinds of uncertainty there. Now, presumably the Israelis have intel on the ground that will give them insights into that. And again, they are able to bomb with impunity, just about anything. So hopefully they will clean that up. But I think there's still a question of, did they get out some highly enriched uranium? Enriched Uranium? And if so, where is it? We don't know. There's a handful of things like that that still kind of are out there.”
“There's really all the non nuclear military facilities, as well as potentially some of their economic means, and so the cost, the price, may be literally economic. But also, of course, there's the political leadership themselves,” Karako added.
Throughout the lead up to the strikes, there were back channel communications with Iran, according to a source familiar.
The Iranians did not indicate a path towards negotiations following the strikes, but condemned the attacks.
“The warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,” said Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, after the strikes occurred.
There are indirect outreaches to Iran post-strikes, according to a source familiar with the efforts.
“I can only confirm that there are both public and pivot messages being directly delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels giving them every opportunity to come to the table," Hegseth said. "They understand precisely what the American position is, precisely what steps they ca take to allow for peace and we hope they do so."
RELATED STORY | Trump hints at possibility of regime change in Iran, sending mixed messaging from administration
In further comments on Sunday, Trump alluded to the possibility of regime change in Iran.
“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!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The post came hours after his administration indicated the strikes were not intended to pressure such a change.
“The Iranians don’t have the cards right now," said Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran and a scholar at the Middle East Institute’s Iran Program. "Their nuclear program is destroyed. So I think the United States is going to want to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, and it was trying to force the Islamic Republic to make a choice. It can preserve its regime or dismantle its nuclear program, and this is part of that equation.”
“I think that the President wants to escalate it to de-escalate," Brodsky said.
“My sense is if the play here is regime survival, which I think it is, I think they’re going to come to the negotiating table and try to wheel out concessions and try to make Trump a stakeholder at this point,” said Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump following the strikes, UN Sec. Gen. Antonio Guterres called it a “dangerous escalation” and said he was “gravely alarmed by the use of force,” as other allies underscored diplomacy and de-escalation.
“It is important that we now de-escalate the situation stabilize the region and get the parties back around the table to negotiate,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
Following the strikes, Trump warned Iran against relation.
“ANY RETALIATION BY IRAN AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE MET WITH FORCE FAR GREATER THAN WHAT WAS WITNESSED TONIGHT. THANK YOU! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Across the country, state leaders monitored the situation. Cities including New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. said they were increasing law enforcement resources to religious and sensitive sites.
The State Department issued a worldwide caution security alert Sunday evening. “There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad. The Department of State advises US citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution,” it stated.
While Republicans generally praised Trump’s order, some Democrats criticized it.
“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” House Democratic leader Hakeen Jeffries said in a statement.
Hegseth maintained that the administration complied with the War Powers Act and notified lawmakers as soon as the planes were out of harm's way.
