WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday known as into query the way forward for Iran’s ruling theocracy after a surprise attack on three of the nation’s nuclear websites, seemingly contradicting his administration’s earlier calls to renew negotiations and keep away from an escalation in preventing.
“It’s not politically appropriate to make use of the time period, ‘Regime Change,’ but when the present Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Trump posted on social media. “MIGA!!!”
The posting on Fact Social marked one thing of a reversal from Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Sunday morning information convention that detailed the aerial bombing.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Hegseth stated.
What the administration has made clear is that it needs Iran to cease any growth of nuclear weapons, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning on Fox Information’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that any retaliation towards the U.S. or a rush towards constructing a nuclear weapon would “put the regime in danger.”
However past that, the world is awash in uncertainty at a fragile second that would determine whether or not elements of the globe tip into warfare or discover a option to salvage a relative peace. Trump’s warning to Iran’s management comes because the U.S. has demanded that Iran not reply to the bombardment of the center of a nuclear program that it spent many years creating.
The Trump administration has made a collection of intimidating statements even because it has concurrently known as to restart negotiations, making it laborious to get an entire learn on whether or not the U.S. president is solely taunting an adversary or utilizing inflammatory phrases that would additional widen the warfare between Israel and Iran that started earlier this month.
Up till the U.S. president’s put up on Sunday afternoon, the coordinated messaging by Trump’s vp, Pentagon chief, high navy adviser and secretary of state urged a confidence that any fallout can be manageable and that Iran’s lack of navy capabilities would in the end drive it again to the bargaining desk.
Hegseth had stated that America “doesn’t search warfare” with Iran, whereas Vice President JD Vance stated the strikes have given Tehran the opportunity of returning to barter with Washington.
However the unfolding state of affairs isn’t completely below Washington’s management, as Tehran has a collection of levers to reply to the aerial bombings that would intensify the battle within the Center East with doable international repercussions.
Iran can block oil being shipped by the Strait of Hormuz, assault U.S. bases within the area, interact in cyber assaults or double down on a nuclear program which may look like extra of a necessity after the U.S. strike.
All of that raises the query of whether or not the strikes will open up a much more brutal section of preventing or revive negotiations out of an abundance of warning. Contained in the U.S., the assault rapidly spilled over into home politics with Trump selecting to spend a part of his Sunday going after his critics in Congress.
Trump additionally used a social media put up to lambaste Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who had objected to the president taking navy motion with out particular congressional approval.
“We had a spectacular navy success yesterday, taking the ‘bomb’ proper out of their palms (and they might use it if they might!)” Trump wrote.
What Trump’s nationwide safety crew stated
At their joint Pentagon briefing, Hegseth and Air Drive Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, stated that “Operation Midnight Hammer” concerned decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance.
Caine indicated that the objective of the operation — destroying nuclear websites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — had been achieved.
“Closing battle injury will take a while, however preliminary battle injury assessments point out that each one three websites sustained extraordinarily extreme injury and destruction,” Caine stated.
Vance stated he felt “very assured that we’ve considerably delayed their growth of a nuclear weapon.”
Pressed additional, he advised NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “I believe that we have now actually pushed their program again by a really very long time. I believe that it’s going to be many a few years earlier than the Iranians are in a position to develop a nuclear weapon.”
The vp stated the U.S. had “negotiated aggressively’ with Iran to attempt to discover a peaceable settlement and that Trump made his determination after assessing the Iranians weren’t appearing “in good religion.”
“I really suppose it offers a chance to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a spot the place Iran can determine to not be a menace to its neighbors, to not be a menace to the USA, and in the event that they’re prepared to try this, the USA is all ears,” Vance stated.
Rubio stated on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that “there are not any deliberate navy operations proper now towards Iran, except, except they fiddle they usually assault” U.S. pursuits.
Trump has beforehand threatened different international locations, however usually backed down or did not observe by, given his guarantees to his coalition of voters to not entangle the USA in an prolonged warfare. It was not instantly clear whether or not Iran noticed the avoidance of a wider battle as in its greatest pursuits.
How Iran and others are reacting to the US strikes
A lot of the world is absorbing the results of the strikes and the danger that they might result in extra preventing throughout the Center East after the U.S. inserted itself into the warfare between Israel and Iran. Israeli airstrikes that started on June 13 native time focused Iran’s nuclear services and generals, prompting retaliation from Iran and making a collection of occasions that contributed to the U.S. assault.
Whereas U.S. officers urged warning and pressured that solely nuclear websites had been focused by Washington, Iran criticized the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and worldwide legislation.
This picture supplied by the Division of Protection reveals a chart that was displayed throughout a information convention by Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Gen. Dan Caine on the Pentagon in Washington, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Division of Protection through AP)
Iran’s international minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated Washington was “totally accountable” for no matter actions Tehran might soak up response.
“They crossed a really massive pink line by attacking nuclear services,” he stated at a information convention in Turkey. “I don’t know the way a lot room is left for diplomacy.”
China and Russia, the place Araghchi was heading for talks with President Vladimir Putin, condemned the U.S. navy motion. The assaults had been “a gross violation of worldwide legislation,” stated Russia’s International Ministry, which additionally advocated “returning the state of affairs to a political and diplomatic course.” A Turkish International Ministry assertion warned concerning the danger of the battle spreading to “a world degree.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated the UK was transferring navy gear into the realm to guard its pursuits, folks and allies. His workplace stated he talked on Sunday with Trump concerning the want for Tehran to renew negotiations, however Trump would have posted his remarks about regime change after their dialog.
The leaders of Italy, Canada, Germany and France agreed on the necessity for “a speedy resumption of negotiations.” France’s Emmanuel Macron held talks with the Saudi crown prince and sultan of Oman.
Iran attempting to cease oil exports by the Strait of Hormuz may create the identical sort of inflationary shocks that the world felt after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil costs have elevated because the warfare between Israel and Iran intensified, climbing by 21% over the previous month.
The worth of oil rose and U.S. inventory futures fell on Sunday, amid uncertainty over Iran — which may undermine Trump’s guarantees to tame inflation and produce shopper costs down.
Hegseth affords a proof for the timeline
The Pentagon briefing didn’t present any new particulars about Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Hegseth stated the timeline for the strikes was the results of a schedule set by Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions.
“Iran discovered” that when Trump “says 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation,” Hegseth stated. “In any other case, that nuclear program, that new nuclear functionality is not going to exist. He meant it.”
That assertion was difficult because the White Home had urged Thursday that Trump may take as a lot as two weeks to find out whether or not to strike Iran or proceed to pursue negotiations. However the U.S. benefited from Iran’s weakened air defenses and was in a position to conduct the assaults with out resistance from Iran.
“Iran’s fighters didn’t fly, and it seems that Iran’s floor to air missile programs didn’t see us all through the mission,” Caine stated.
Hegseth stated {that a} selection to maneuver quite a few B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians. Caine added that the U.S. used different strategies of deception as properly, deploying fighters to guard the B-2 bombers that dropped a complete of 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s websites at Fordo and Natanz.
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Related Press writers Brian Melley and Elise Morton in London, Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Giada Zampano in Rome and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
