After a delay of several hours, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu issued a statement Tuesday morning, June 24, confirming that the Israeli government had agreed to the ceasefire that President Trump had personally negotiated and announced late Monday night.
That announcement came a few hours after Iran launched a largely symbolic missile attack on a large American military base in Qatar in retaliation for the dramatic American air strike against three major Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-busting bombs weighing 30,000 pounds as well as dozens of submarine-fired Tomahawk cruise missiles. The American base in Qatar had previously been evacuated in anticipation of just such an attack, and because Iran actually gave advance notice of the attack to both Qatar and American authorities, all of the small number of Iranian missiles were shot down before they reached their target and did no damage.
Meanwhile, both Israel and Iran kept firing at one another all the way up to the announced ceasefire deadline at 7:00 a.m. Israeli time, Tuesday morning, including a last-minute Iranian missile strike on a large apartment building in Be’er Sheva, which killed four people and injured at least 22 others. There was also a final wave of Israeli air strikes on a residential neighborhood in northwest Tehran.
Netanyahu claimed that by the time the ceasefire had taken effect, the Israeli air force had hit its entire list of targets in Iran. But Iran violated the ceasefire agreement about three hours after it went into effect by launching two missiles against Israel, which were both shot down by Israel’s missile defenses. In response to that attack, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, ordered the IDF to retaliate against Iran for breaking the ceasefire agreement.
TRUMP ANGERED BY THE LAST-MINUTE ATTACKS BY BOTH SIDES
The intensification of the attacks by both Israel and Iran, which began immediately after the ceasefire was announced but before it was supposed to go into effect, deeply angered President Trump. He criticized both Iran and Israel for their determination to keep fighting one another. Trump said in obvious frustration that he was dealing with two countries that have been fighting each other for so long and so hard, that they no longer realized what they are doing. But Trump did seem to be particularly upset by a final surge of intense Israeli air attacks on the remaining sites on its target list, which was launched immediately following Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire.
As Trump prepared to leave Washington to attend an annual NATO meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, on Tuesday morning, he told reporters that he intended to call Prime Minister Netanyahu, to complain about the intense last-minute Israeli attacks “unloading” on Iran, and to warn him against launching any more air strikes against Iran, despite Iran’s prior violation of the ceasefire agreement. Trump also could not say with certainty at that point that the ceasefire he had announced just a few hours earlier was still in effect.
But soon after Air Force One had taken off, Trump posted another message, after he had spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu, in which he wrote that Israel had agreed not to retaliate against the latest Iranian attack, and that as a result, the ceasefire he had announced would remain in effect, at least for the time being.
SYMBOLIC RETALIATIONS
In fact, according to media reports, the conversation had been a heated one, with Trump insisting that Netanyahu call off the Israeli attacks on Tehran that had been ordered in response to Iran’s breach of the ceasefire, and Netanyahu’s response agreeing to eliminate all but one of the Israeli retaliatory strikes which would be directed at an obscure radar installation outside Tehran, and which Trump eventually agreed to accept.
It was very much like the symbolic Iranian attack on the American military base in Qatar which preceded Trump’s ceasefire announcement, which was clearly intended to serve as a harmless but face-saving retaliation for the devastating American attack on three Iranian nuclear installations last Saturday night which was dubbed “Operation Midnight Hammer” by the Pentagon.
The symbolic Iranian response was greeted with great relief, because many had feared that Iran would respond to the American attack by doing something foolish, such as trying to close off the oil shipments through the Straits of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil supply is shipped by Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the other Persian Gulf states.
In a CBS News interview, Secretary of State Marco Rubio specifically warned Iran that trying to close the Strait “would be a suicidal move on their part because I think the whole world would come against them if they did that.”
Rubio also said that while “there are no planned [U.S.] military operations right now against Iran unless they mess around and attack American[s] or American interests [such as the free flow of oil shipments from the Persian Gulf]. Then they are going to have a problem, and I’m not going to broadcast what those problems are.”
IRAN FACING SHARPLY REDUCED MILITARY OPTIONS
Iran’s options to retaliate effectively against the U.S. or Israel have been sharply reduced, first by Israel’s military success against Iran’s terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, including Hezbollah, since the Hamas attack on October 7, as well as the severe damage that Iran’s military suffered during 12 days of intensive Israeli air strikes.
As a result of its severe losses due to IDF operations since October 7, Hamas in Gaza has been reduced to a shell of its former self, hanging on desperately to about 50 of the hostages, living and dead, that it kidnapped on October 7 to prevent the IDF from wiping it out completely.
Iran had also invested decades of training and billions of dollars to make its most powerful proxy, Hezbollah, into a formidable fighting force. Iran also equipped Hezbollah, in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution, with a massive missile arsenal designed to make Israel think twice before daring to attack Iran or its nuclear program.
However, because Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hasan Nasrallah, made the strategic mistake of attacking northern Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, it was so badly damaged by Israel’s highly inventive and effective counter-attacks that it was forced last year to accept a humiliating, one-sided ceasefire on Israel’s terms. Hezbollah has been so weakened that within hours of the U.S. air attack on Iran, one of its spokesmen told Newsweek that it would not try to retaliate against either Israel or the U.S.
ISRAEL HAS DEFEATED IRAN’S “AXIS OF RESISTANCE”
In addition, soon after the collapse of Hezbollah, Sunni rebels in Syria took advantage of the weakening of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” to overturn the Assad family’s half-century of tyrannical rule over Syria, depriving Iran of a major regional ally and breaking the land bridge which Iran had used for decades to support its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon and to extend its influence in the region all the way to the Mediterranean coast.
The American attack on Iran was led by 7 U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers, which dropped a total of 14 GBU-57 MOP bunker-buster penetrating bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds, to destroy the underground nuclear installations in the Iranian cities of Natanz, and Fordow, after an 18-hour flight from a U.S. Air Force base in Whiteman, Missouri. In addition, more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from a converted American nuclear missile submarine off the coast of Iran, 400 miles away, at a third major Iranian nuclear installation in Isfahan.
The most difficult of the three targeted Iranian nuclear facilities was at the Fordow site, which was originally built in secret, several hundred feet underground beneath a mountain. That site had been specifically designed to resist attack by even the most powerful of the previous generation of bunker-busting bombs.
MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT IRAN’S CAPABILITIES REMAIN UNANSWERED
But even after the ceasefire went into effect Tuesday, many important questions remained unanswered. Aside from President Trump’s somewhat vague initial announcement, few details of the ceasefire agreement were released. Despite President Trump’s claim in his Saturday night announcement that Iran’s targeted nuclear facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated,” U.S. military officials later said that they could not be sure just how much damage was done to Iran’s nuclear program by the American attack on Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan until the Pentagon had completed a thorough bomb damage assessment.
Furthermore, American officials could not say with any certainty what happened to the stockpile of more than 900 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, enough to fuel up to nine nuclear weapons with one more step of enrichment, that Iran had in hand just before the American air strike. The officials also refused to comment on media reports that several Iranian vehicles, possibly carrying that enriched uranium to an unknown safe site, had been observed leaving the Isfahan nuclear facility the day before the American air strike.
HOW MUCH OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM SURVIVES
However, even though Vice President Vance, in a Fox News interview following the American air strike, could not say with any certainty what had happened to the 60% enriched uranium, he seemed to be unconcerned, in large part because the extensive damage that the U.S. and Israeli air raids had done to the rest of Iran’s nuclear program would make it very difficult for Iran to complete the complicated process of turning that enriched uranium into a viable nuclear weapon.
David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, who is one of the world’s foremost experts on nuclear weapons, confirmed the difficulties Iran now faces in reviving its nuclear program. But Albright also told the Wall Street Journal that in a worst-case scenario, in which some of the advanced centrifuges at Fordow are still operational, and Iran’s 900-pound stockpile of 60% enriched uranium is still intact, it “could make enough weapons-grade [90% enriched] uranium for nine nuclear weapons within a month.”
The American air strike was first announced to the world by President Trump in a brief, televised message he delivered from the White House East Room, while flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance.
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” MOMENT
Trump said: “A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive, precision strikes on the three key [Iranian] nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. . .
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and [to] stop the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.
“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 [American] attacks [on Iran] would be far greater and a lot easier.
“For 40 years, Iran has been saying. Death to America, death to Israel. [During that period, Iran has] been killing our people with roadside bombs. That was their specialty.
“We lost over 1,000 people and thousands [more were wounded] throughout the Middle East, and around the world as a direct result of their hate. In particular, many were killed by Iran’s General Qassim Soleimani [and] I decided a long time ago that I would not let this continue.”
TRUMP THANKS ISRAEL AND NETANYAHU
“I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.
“I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many decades.
“Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan ‘Ragin’ Caine, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack.
“With all of that being said, this [fighting] cannot continue. 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 [Iranian] targets left, [and] if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill. . .
“There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight,” Trump declared.
“And I want to just thank everybody, and, in particular, G-d. I want to say, we love you, G-d, and we love our great military. Protect them. G-d bless the Middle East. G-d bless Israel and G-d bless America,” the president concluded.
Trump also announced that more details of the American air strike would be released at a Pentagon press conference the next morning, led by Defense Secretary Hegseth and the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Cain.
NETANYAHU TAKES A VICTORY LAP
But first, Prime Minister Netanyahu issued his own video statement, speaking in English late Saturday night to present the Israeli view of the devastating American air strike on Iran’s nuclear installations, and to thank President Trump for bringing “peace through strength” to the region.
Netanyahu said, “President Trump and I often say peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength.”
The prime minister then added that President Trump’s “leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace.
“President Trump, I thank you. The people of Israel thank you. The forces of civilization thank you.
“You remember that from the beginning of this operation, I promised you that Iran’s nuclear facilities would be destroyed, in one way or another. That promise has been kept,” he boasted.
For Netanyahu, who has often been criticized by his political enemies for being too reactive and for failing to live up to his self-created image as Israel’s “Mr. Security,” it was a rare moment of vindication and a reminder that sometimes, patience pays off.
Netanyahu’s accomplishment in neutralizing the Iranian nuclear threat was recognized in a statement by his right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who declared: “This morning, the world is a better and safer world. For Israel and the entire world.
“Thank you to the L-rd of the Universe,” Smotrich said first. “Thank you to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who have been working together resolutely for 25 years for this moment…
“Thank you to President Trump, who shows true leadership and commitment to the State of Israel and world peace,” Smotrich added, while also warning that despite this victory, “the war [against Iran] is not over.”
BROAD PRAISE FOR TRUMP FROM OTHER ISRAELI LEADERS
However, most of the comments by other Israeli political leaders focused on Trump’s role in ordering the American attack that eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote in a post on X: “In the pages of human history, this is a moment when the principles of liberty, responsibility, and security have triumphed. A decisive moment between the axis of terror and evil and the axis of hope.
“This brave step serves the security and safety of the entire free world. I hope it will lead to a better future for the Middle East — and help advance the urgent release of our hostages [still being] held in captivity [by Hamas] in Gaza.”
Knesset Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said, “This is a historic night for the entire Middle East. Thank you to President Trump. Thank you to the U.S. A nuclear Iran is a threat to the entire world. Tonight, a nuclear arms race in the Middle East was averted.”
National Unity party chairman Benny Gantz also said that Trump’s decision to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities “makes the world, the Middle East, and Israel safer places today.”
In an English language post on X, Gantz also expressed his “profound appreciation” for America’s “clear stand with Israel throughout this campaign and tonight particularly against the Iranian regime.”
Gantz added, “Challenging days still lie ahead. I ask all Israeli citizens to continue following the [Home Front Command’s safety] guidelines. Together, we will get through these days, and together, we will prevail.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett wrote, “President of the United States Donald Trump demonstrated the strength of the United States in the face of evil and his uncompromising leadership against a global threat. A massive operation with thousands of components reached its peak tonight — from political and security decisions by the [Israeli] government and its head, to the building of intelligence and firepower infrastructure, budget allocations, and thousands of Israelis who worked for years so that we could reach this day.”
In a Hebrew language video message that Netanyahu posted for the Israeli people, he said that the American air strike against Iran was carried out in “full coordination” with the IDF.
HOW ISRAEL PAVED THE WAY FOR THE AMERICAN AIR STRIKE
According to an Israeli official, quoted in an Axios report written by Barak Ravid, after Trump first told Netanyahu that he was going to order American planes to attack the Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs, the prime minister immediately asked him, “How can we help?”
Trump’s answer was to ask Netanyahu to order Israeli warplanes to eliminate as many Iranian air defense systems as possible in southern Iran in order to clear a path for the incoming B-2 stealth bombers. The U.S. military then provided Israel with a list of the specific Iranian air defense systems it wanted eliminated before the B-2 strike.
Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, then held a separate phone call with Vice President Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to continue the coordination.
As a result, according to the same Israeli official, “In the 48 hours before the U.S. operation, the IDF conducted several strikes in the [requested] area [in order] to degrade Iranian defenses,” in preparation for the American air strike.
As a result, shortly after the B-2 bombers carried out their attack without encountering any Iranian opposition and began their safe return trip to the U.S., Trump called Netanyahu to personally brief him on the successful U.S. attack mission. But Trump also made it clear that since the main mission had been accomplished, he now wanted to bring the ongoing fighting between Israel and Iran to a swift end. While Trump reportedly said that he didn’t mind if Israel completed its attacks on its list of Iranian targets, he also made it clear that the American part of the combat operations against Iran was done.
Nevertheless, Netanyahu was more than satisfied with the American role in the attack on Iran.
PENTAGON REVEALS THE DETAILS OF THE AMERICAN AIR STRIKE
Meanwhile, at the Pentagon press conference held that Sunday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff provided more details about the long-distance American air strike, employing the GBU-57 MOP bunker-buster bombs which had been specifically designed to penetrate the Iranian nuclear installations at Fordow and Natanz buried several hundred feet underground.
Altogether, Operation Midnight Hammer required the use of 125 U.S. military aircraft, including refueling tankers, electronic warfare planes as well as F-16 and F-35 jet fighter escorts to get the B-2 stealth bombers to their targets and back home again safely, a journey of almost 7,000 miles each way, without being detected by Iranian air defenses or triggering any effort to stop them.
The B-2 nuclear bomber, which first entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1997, had been designed with stealth technology at the end of the Cold War era in order to avoid detection by Soviet air defense radars. Including development expenses, each plane costs more than $2 billion. Production of the B-2 was discontinued after only 20 of them were built because its mission was considered unnecessary following the collapse of the Soviet empire.
During the 37-hour non-stop round-trip flight from Missouri to Iran and back, the seven B-2 bombers flew in near complete radio silence, with their two-man crews taking turns napping in their plane’s cockpit in order to stay alert throughout the mission.
The goal of Operation Midnight Hammer was to finish the job of destroying Tehran’s nuclear program, which had already been well-started over the previous week by a series of long-range Israeli air attacks. Israel’s initial June 13 air raid was particularly successful. In addition to further degrading Iran’s air defenses, it simultaneously decapitated Iran’s top military command structure and killed Iran’s top nuclear scientists.
By the time the American planes arrived, a full week of raids by Israeli warplanes and drones had neutralized most of Iran’s remaining air defenses. The Israeli planes were also conducting an intensive search and destroy mission against Iran’s long-range ballistic missiles, which were bombarding civilian population centers across central and northern Israel. They have killed 24 Israelis, wounded several hundred more, and rendered thousands of Israelis homeless by destroying high-rise apartment buildings in several Israeli cities.
SECRETARY HEGSETH INSISTS THE U.S. GOAL WAS NOT REGIME CHANGE
At the Pentagon press conference, Defense Secretary Hegseth repeated the same declarations and warnings made by the president the previous evening. Trump said that the U.S. did “not seek war” with Iran.
“This [American] mission was not, and has not, been about regime change,” Hegseth emphasized. “I would just say, as the president has directed and made clear, this is most certainly not [an] open-ended [attack]. The scope of this was intentionally limited… This was [all] about [Iran’s] nuclear sites [and] nuclear capabilities.”
Echoing President Trump’s claim, Hegseth told the Pentagon press briefing that, “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.”
“We devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” Hegseth said, adding that the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”
“No other country on planet Earth” could have conducted the operation, Hegseth boasted.
The defense secretary also noted that Israel has had “incredible” military success, at the beginning of its attacks “and ongoing, successfully degrading Iranian military capabilities. He also said that it has been “incredible to watch what our ally Israel has been able to do.”
“Part of this operation was the ongoing defense of Israel,” Hegseth added. “The president authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our ally Israel.”
U.S. OFFERING IRAN AN “OFF-RAMP” TO THE FIGHTING
Hegseth was also careful to offer the Iranians an “off-ramp” to end the fighting by reminding them that President Trump “seeks peace,” and then urging Iran to “take that path.”
After noting that “the capabilities of the American military are nearly unlimited,” Hegseth added, and thus Iran should “take the path [that President Trump is offering] of negotiated peace.”
Speaking at the Pentagon press conference immediately after Hegseth’s introductory comments, General Caine said that while a “final battle damage [assessment] will take some time, initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites [Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, had] sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”
Caine also said the “main [American] strike package comprised seven B-2 Spirit bombers” flying 18 hours from the U.S. mainland to Iran with multiple aerial refuelings.
HOW THE U.S. ATTACK SECURED THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission. We retained the element of surprise,” Caine concluded.
He also said that the prior deployment of several other B-2 bombers from the Whiteman, Missouri air base toward the Pacific was a “decoy,” part of a wider deception effort to help maintain that element of surprise.
“This was a highly classified mission, with very few people in Washington knowing the timing or nature of this plan,” Caine said.
“More than 125 U.S. aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of 4th- and 5th-generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft.”
A Pentagon-provided map of the flight path taken by the 7 B-2 stealth bombers indicated that their approach to Iran took them over the Mediterranean and then over Israel, Jordan, and Iraq. While Israel has said that the U.S. strikes on Iran were carried out in coordination with its military, it was not immediately clear whether the U.S. had notified Jordan and Iraq that American military aircraft would be passing through their airspace.
The B-2 bombers arrived over their targets in Iran at about 6:40 p.m. ET, or 2:10 a.m. in Iran. The lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on the site at Fordow. Over the next 25 minutes, Caine said, a total of 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs were dropped on Fordow and Natanz.
More than two-dozen Tomahawk missiles were launched at about 5 p.m. EST from a converted Ohio-class missile submarine. The cruise missiles arrived at Isfahan shortly after B-2s dropped their loads on the two other sites. Caine also said that no shots were fired at any of the American planes after they had dropped their bomb loads as they left Iranian airspace.
General Caine also said, “Our forces [throughout the region, especially in Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf] remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice, [because] we will defend ourselves.”
AN IMPRESSIVE DEMONSTRATION OF U.S. MILITARY CAPABILITIES
“This mission demonstrates the unmatched reach, coordination, and capability of the United States military. In just a matter of weeks, this went from strategic planning to global execution…
“This operation underscores the unmatched capabilities and global reach of the United States military. Our joint force remains ready to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests in the region.”
Caine also acknowledged that the U.S. strikes “took advantage of some of the preparatory work that was done [by Israel] in terms of access and approach” and that “we made sure [our aircraft and missiles] were not in the same piece of air space and sky” as Israel’s planes.
At the press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also called the air strike on the three Iranian nuclear targets “an incredible and overwhelming success.”
“The order we received from our commander in chief [President Trump] was focused, it was powerful, and it was clear,” Hegseth said. “We devastated the Iranian nuclear program, but it’s worth noting that the operation did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.
“The operation President Trump planned was bold, and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back. When this president speaks, the world should listen.”
Hegseth concluded, “Our B-2s went in and out … and back without the world knowing at all.”
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION KNOWS HOW TO KEEP SECRETS
CNN’s veteran Pentagon reporter, Jennifer Griffin, confirmed that the operational security for Operation Midnight Hammer was extraordinary. “There was a complete lockdown — almost a blackout — of information for the last few days. . . All of the information [about the operation] is coming right now out of the White House. That is a significant achievement because there were no leaks about its timing.”
Griffin also noted that June 25 was an ideal time to schedule such an attack because there was only a waning crescent moon that night, which meant that the sky over Iran was very dark, further obscuring the B-2 stealth bomber, which was designed to be invisible to radar.
Also speaking on Sunday, Vice President JD Vance told NBC News that the American air strikes had “destroyed the Iranian nuclear program. I think we set that program back substantially,” but he also was careful to emphasize that the U.S. is “not at war with Iran, we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.”
Meanwhile, the Iranians reacted to the American air strikes with their familiar bluster. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Istanbul that the United States and Israel had “crossed a very big red line,” and asserted menacingly that Iran would continue to defend itself “by all means necessary.”
ISRAEL PAYS THE HIGH COSTS OF WAR
By that time, Iran had already retaliated by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. While most of the missiles and drones were shot down by Israeli and American missile defenses, enough of them got through to do significant damage, especially when their warheads exploded in densely packed residential areas. Before the American air strike, the Iranian missiles had killed 24 people and wounded thousands more in towns and cities across Israel. Some of the other missiles that got through Israel’s defenses also inflicted heavy damage to an oil refinery in Haifa, the Soroka hospital in Be’er Sheva (fortunately, shortly after the patients and staff had been evacuated), and two laboratory buildings at the Weitzmann Institute of Science in Rechovot. However, by the end of last week, the volume of Iranian missile salvos had been sharply reduced and was no longer able to overwhelm Israel’s missile defenses. However, in a final splurge of 20 missiles fired minutes before the ceasefire took hold, one of the Iranian missiles got through to badly damage a large apartment building in Be’er Sheva, killing four more Israelis.
Yet despite these tragic losses, Israel emerged from its 12-day-long war with Iran having suffered far fewer casualties than the IDF’s Home Front Command had anticipated. Much of the credit for that relatively low casualty count is due to the efficiency of Israel’s state-of-the-art missile defense system and Israel’s practice of requiring every new residential building to be equipped with a sturdy bomb shelter and reinforced “safe rooms” in every apartment.
But the success of Israel’s attack on Iran, which began on June 13, is also partially the result of a much more aggressive IDF attitude towards Israel’s longtime enemies in response to the bitter lessons learned from the October 7 attack.
HOW THE ISRAELI ATTACK PLAN AGAINST IRAN DEVELOPED
According to a report in Israel Hayom, shortly after President Trump’s second term inauguration in January, members of his inner circle informed Netanyahu that if Trump’s efforts to reach an improved nuclear deal Iran were to stall, he would not strongly oppose a move by Israel to implement its proposed “military option” for ending Iran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, in early January, an unnamed Israeli official met with Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer in the eighth-floor office of Prime Minister Netanyahu in Yerushalayim. A week later, the same Israeli official met with then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on the 14th floor of the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Both meetings left that official with the same strong impression, that an Israeli attack on Iran was only a matter of time.
Less than six months later, that perception became a reality with Israel’s massive first strike on Friday, June 13, which left Iran’s air defenses in a shambles, its military command structure decapitated, and all of its nuclear and missile capabilities under concerted attack. The complex attack plan was carried out flawlessly by the IDF with perfect timing and the full political approval and support of the Trump administration.
The IDF had been preparing to launch a long-range pre-emptive strike to take out Iran’s nuclear program for almost two decades. But it wasn’t until last October, after Israel effectively neutralized the missile threat from Hezbollah in Lebanon with its exploding pagers, followed by the assassination of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, that the IDF began to plan for the current assault against Iran.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IRAN’S AIR DEFENSE WEAKNESSES
Those planners were also encouraged by the success of an Israeli retaliatory air strike last October 26, in response to a salvo of Iranian missiles fired at Israel on October 1, which badly damaged Iran’s anti-aircraft defenses. As a result, the planners realized that they could design an extended air campaign instead of just a single strike. That would enable Israel to achieve all of its goals, in addition to crippling Iran’s nuclear program. Israel could also decapitate Iran’s military command structure, in much the same way that it had decapitated the leadership of Hezbollah. In addition to targeting Iran’s long-range ballistic missiles, Israel also embarked on the systematic elimination of the top Iranian scientists working toward the goal of turning those missiles into a delivery system for Iran’s nuclear weapons.
According to the Israel Hayom story, Unit 8200, the clandestine operations division of the IDF’s intelligence corps, began redirecting more of its human resources to focus on Iran in 2021. They began to track the movements of each of Iran’s top military leaders and the nuclear weaponization scientists around the clock, so that when the order came to launch the first strike on June 13, the IDF could target all of these individuals at the same time.
The scientists were targeted and attacked individually while they were in their own homes. Israeli intelligence was also able to trick the Iranian military leadership into calling a meeting of its high-level commanders at a known location where they could then all be killed in a single, pinpoint Israeli airstrike.
CLEARING A PATH FOR ISRAELI WARPLANES
In order to carry out the main goal of the attack on Iran, the neutralizing of its major nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate and Air Force leaders knew that they had to provide Israeli pilots with a clear path to their targets. They began an intensive effort to find and map out the position of every anti-aircraft installation in the country, including an outer ring of surface-to-air missiles located along Iran’s border, and smaller rings of anti-aircraft installations protecting Iran’s high-value military targets.
The Israelis were then able to use that map not only to clear the way for Israeli planes to Iran’s nuclear facilities, but also to the main military targets in Tehran. The original Israeli air attack plan was very complex and included the assumption that Israel would lose at least a few of its planes in the process of carrying out the mission. But, according to Israel Hayom’s “informed” source, “we succeeded far beyond expectations, with no planes lost. I think it worked because the enemy didn’t expect Israel to strike like this,” and was caught unprepared.
As a result, with the June 13 initial attack, the Israeli Air Force was able to achieve immediate air superiority over most of Iran, putting Israel in a militarily commanding position.
Even some of those in the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, which produced the attack plan, were skeptical that the air force would be able to gain air superiority without suffering any losses at all. One of them told Israel Hayom, “When we started, it seemed impossible [because] Iran’s air defenses are both high-quality and numerous.”
But ultimately, the Israeli air force was able to complete its original strike mission in just 36 hours, while suffering no losses. In what another Israel Hayom source called “The greatest air superiority operation in history,” on the first night of the attack, the air force destroyed 30 Iranian air defense batteries and at least 10 radar installations. Meanwhile, even more Iranian air defense batteries were destroyed by the drones that the Mossad had smuggled into Iran, one part at a time, that were then assembled and launched by its local secret agents.
Israel’s ability to obtain immediate air superiority was a crucial factor in the overall success of that first strike, by enabling Israeli planes and drones to operate freely across the country, attacking nuclear sites and hunting down and destroying Iran’s ballistic missile launchers without having to worry about anti-aircraft fire. As a result, according to another Israel Hayom “knowledgeable source,” after the first couple of days, “instead of [Israel being attacked by] hundreds of missiles on day one, we faced dozens. That’s a game-changer, reducing pressure and strain in Israel.”
DIMENSIONS OF THE U.S.-ISRAELI MILITARY PARTNERSHIP
Even though the U.S. military did not play any direct role in the Israeli air strikes, it has played an important supportive role. Back in January, the Trump administration lifted the Biden administration’s restrictions on sharing intelligence information on Iran with Israel that it gleaned from U.S. satellites and long-range radar systems.
In addition, for more than two decades, the U.S. has been helping Israel to fund the development of its multi-layered missile defense system. It started with the Iron Dome, which has been effective against Hamas and Hezbollah’s short-range missiles ever since it became operational in 2011. That was followed by the longer-range David’s Sling and Arrow anti-missile systems, which have been able to maintain a roughly 90% interception rate against the incoming Iranian missiles.
The frequent joint military exercises conducted by the Israeli Air Force with the U.S. Central Command were also crucial to the successful defense of Israel from two mass missile and drone attacks launched by Iran in 2024. Since then, the U.S. also supplied Israel with one of its THAAD anti-missile batteries, which helped in the defense against the large initial salvos of missiles launched by Iran against Israel last week.
As one Israeli air force official told Israel Hayom, the success of the Israeli air attacks on Iran could not have been achieved without America’s full cooperation. “While the attack plan was indeed built without them, it was impossible to execute it without getting [help] from them.”
THE ROLE OF TRICKERY IN ISRAEL’S VICTORY
The successful Israeli plan to attack Iran also included a substantial amount of public relations trickery and misdirection. Starting in late May, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office began leaking information, mostly to anti-Netanyahu Israeli journalists, suggesting that Trump and Netanyahu were no longer seeing eye-to-eye over the ongoing talks between Trump’s chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. But the reported rift between Trump and Netanyahu never really existed. Instead, the two leaders were playing mind games with Iran’s leaders, giving them a false sense of confidence by deliberately manipulating the reports of their enemies in the media.
One such example was a May 28 report by Ben Caspit published in Maariv, which said that Strategic Affairs Minister Dermer and Mossad chief David Barnea flew to Washington in a “desperate last attempt to b90commander General Tomer Bar both “stood on their hind legs” and told Netanyahu that Israel couldn’t act alone against Iran.
None of those four news reports were true, but they did succeed, as intended by the leakers in the prime minister’s office, in giving the Iranians and their allies the false impression that Trump and Netanyahu were no longer on the same page, and that the planned Israeli attack was off the table.
Similarly, as late as a few days before Israel struck Iran on June 13, unnamed sources were also telling the Jerusalem Post that Trump was still trying to get Netanyahu to back down from his attack plan.
As part of the ruse, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t deny the quotes that had been attributed to Trump-Netanyahu conversations in those articles, which were intended to imply a growing rift between the two leaders.
TRUMP COOPERATED IN THE DELIBERATE DECEPTIONS
While President Trump had not yet agreed to give Israel the green light it sought to attack Iran, he was perfectly willing to play along with the Israeli attempts to mislead the media by issuing deliberately vague statements, such as, “I don’t want Israel to attack Iran.” Trump even instructed his U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to tell Yediot Acharonot that “the president would be pleased if the Iran issue ends peacefully,” which became the newspaper’s front-page headline on June 13, after Israel’s first strike, which Trump green-lighted, had begun.
It’s not clear why the Iranians, with their decades of experience and reputation as master diplomatic negotiators, read Trump’s intentions so wrong. It could be that they assumed he would not defy a series of polls that showed the American public was against getting involved in the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.
“Never [before] has the United States embarked on a military operation, not just alongside Israel, but subscribing to Israel’s goals, which are making the Middle East and the world a much, much safer place,” noted Michael Oren, a respected Middle East historian who served as Israel’s ambassador to Washington during the Obama era.
As a result, with the June 13 initial attack, the Israeli Air Force was able to achieve immediate air superiority over most of Iran, putting Israel in a militarily commanding position.
THE LONG HISTORY OF U.S. FAILURES TO STOP IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
For three decades, every U.S. president since Bill Clinton had declared that Iran must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. But none of them had acted decisively to stop Iran until Donald Trump did. And in doing so, he set a precedent that will echo across the region and beyond. It was a message not only to Tehran, but to any other rogue regime weighing an attempt to develop a nuclear weapons program of its own or the risks of defying this American president, who has proven that if you cross one of his red lines, he will make you will pay a price.
That also means a safer and more stable Middle East, not just for Israel but also for the pro-American Sunni Arab states who share its concerns about Iran’s hostile intentions.
Even though President Trump campaigned for president last year on a strong anti-war message, he seemed to be enjoying the U.S. and Israel military partnership, which clearly displayed the superiority of their respective air strike and intelligence capabilities, and quickly overwhelmed their common Iranian adversary.
The American airstrike on Iran will also be seen as a warning to China’s leaders regarding their plans to invade Taiwan, as well as a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin should he be tempted to invade and annex yet another former member state of the Soviet Union.
HOW ISRAELI LEADERS PERSUADED TRUMP TO JOIN IN ATTACKING IRAN
Trump’s decision to contribute the American military’s unique ability to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities buried deep underground was the result of weeks of intense lobbying by Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu and his Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, who urged Trump “to take part in history.”
The Israeli leaders were eager for the participation of the U.S. military because they understood that without America’s B-2 bombers, which carry the world’s most powerful bunker-buster bombs, it might not be possible for Israel alone to destroy the underground Iranian nuclear site in Fordow. If the Fordow site were to remain operational, Iran’s nuclear program would be able to recover from the Israeli attacks much more quickly than if Fordow were to be completely destroyed.
By May, Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer already knew that Trump could be persuaded. While he was not yet ready to give Israel a green light to launch the planned attack on Iran, he did not flash a red light at them either. By then, Trump also agreed that Iran could not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon or to continue any uranium enrichment efforts. That, in itself, was seen by the Israelis as meaningful progress, but it was just the beginning.
Netanyahu and Dermer worked very methodically to convince Trump to become a full partner in the attack on Iran. They shared intelligence, laid out the combined Iranian nuclear and missile threat, and showed Trump how the pieces fit together. They also made a strong case that the time for action against Iran had come and that waiting any longer would likely come at a very high cost.
“Netanyahu and Minister Dermer worked tirelessly, spoke with everyone, and in the end succeeded in convincing the [Trump] administration to get involved,” a senior Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post. “Although Trump, of course, made the decision based on American interests, they managed to show him that striking Iran’s nuclear facilities was exactly in line with those interests. Trump declared Iran would not have a nuclear weapon — and together with Israel, he took a major step toward making [sure that didn’t] happen.”
When the 60 days that Trump had asked for in April, to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran, expired, he reluctantly gave Netanyahu the green light to go forward with the air strike that Israel had planned, but without any promise of direct U.S. military participation.
But after Trump saw how successful the Israeli first strike had been in further crippling Iran’s air defenses he became much more willing to order American B-2 heavy bombers to destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear sites with their 30,000 lb. MOP penetrating bombs.
If Israel’s initial air strike had not been so successful, it is unlikely that Trump would have agreed to go any further. But as the Israeli operation’s success became clear — and Iran remained stunned with its nuclear facilities badly exposed — Trump moved quickly to reposition himself.
HOW TRUMP MADE ISRAEL’S STRIKES AGAINST IRAN HIS OWN
By the weekend, he was giving interviews and taking credit for the attacks on Iran that Israel had started without him, and using a telling choice of words when he tweeted that “we” controlled Iranian airspace.
When he announced last Thursday that he would “decide what to do within two weeks,” those who knew Trump’s speech patterns understood that “two weeks” was less of a firm timeline and more of a convenient rhetorical device that Trump has often used in the past while considering what to do.
As part of the joint strike arrangement with Israel, Trump insisted on controlling the diplomatic and media messaging surrounding the operation, which included a great deal of misdirection, both in advance of the initial Israeli attack on June 13, and the announcement by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt last week that Trump would make up his mind over launching an attack on Iran’s nuclear program “within two weeks.”
While Trump said that he would give Iran up to two weeks to show more serious interest in reaching a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, only a day later, Trump hinted that his patience with Iran was already wearing thin.
“We’re going to see what that period of time is, but I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Trump issued a set of orders which implied that he was preparing for an American attack, by flying U.S. citizens out of Israel, moving non-essential personnel out of American embassies and consulates throughout the Middle East, and dispersing American warships and military aircraft from their bases across the region to keep them from becoming targets of an Iranian counter-attack.
Trump made the decision to go ahead with the B-2 airstrike only after Iran made it clear that it would not agree to his demand that it must give up all of its uranium enrichment efforts.
A U.S. official said the Trump administration had also reached out to Iran to make it clear that the attack he was contemplating to eliminate its nuclear program would be a one-off event, and not the start of a war whose goal was regime change. But Trump also warned that he would order additional strikes if Iran lashed out at U.S. military forces or other targets in the region, or continued to balk at Trump’s diplomatic efforts to negotiate a lasting peace in the region.
During a meeting in the White House Situation Room last Tuesday, Trump approved of the Pentagon’s updated plans to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, but withheld issuing a final order, to give him time to assess once more if Iran would be willing to agree to his demand that it must end its enrichment of nuclear fuel.
“There was real debate earlier in the week about what we should do,” said a senior White House official. “But Trump signaled on Tuesday he was leaning toward going forward, so that changed everything.”
RESTORING ISRAEL’S MILITARY SUPERPOWER REPUTATION
Meanwhile, Israel’s devastating surprise first strike on June 13 has re-established its reputation as the undisputed military superpower in the region, after that reputation and the power to deter Israel’s enemies had been badly tarnished by Israel’s massive intelligence failure which prevented it from responding promptly and effectively to Hamas’ October 7 attack.
The success of “Operation Midnight Hammer” also re-established the credibility of the U.S. as the undisputed leader of the free world, in sharp contrast to the humiliation that America’s prestige suffered four years ago as a result of President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. But today, under President Trump, America now has a leader who has proven that he knows how to wield its vast military power effectively, while America’s great power rivals, Russia and China, proved to be helpless to defend the interests of their ally, Iran.
The triumph of the U.S.-Israeli alliance over Iran has also reopened opportunities for the normalization of Israel’s relations by signing the Abraham Accords with other pro-American Arab countries in the region, starting with Saudi Arabia, after that process had been frozen due to bruised Arab feelings over Israel’s post-October 7 war in Gaza with Hamas.
Other neighboring countries now in the process of throwing off Iranian influence, including Lebanon and Syria, might also be willing to sign mutually beneficial Abraham Accord agreements with Israel now that they will no longer be required to serve as hosts for Iran’s terrorist campaign against Israel.
EARLY PRAISE FOR TRUMP’S LEADERSHIP
While it is far too early to pass judgment on the final outcome of the Israeli and American attacks intended to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal did render a preliminary opinion by stating:
“President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s three most significant nuclear sites on Saturday helped rid the world of a grave nuclear threat and was a large step toward restoring U.S. deterrence. It also creates an opportunity for a more peaceful Middle East, if the nations of the region will seize it.
“Trump gave Iran every chance to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program peacefully, but it failed to take advantage of his decision to delay an Israeli first strike by 60 days to negotiate a solution, and again failed to begin serious negotiations, even after Israel’s first strike and its subsequent achievement of air supremacy over Iran, clearing the way for the American B-2 bomber attack.”
The editorial also credited Trump for “meeting the moment, [and realizing] that he had to act to stop the [Iranian nuclear] threat in front of him to protect America, which is his first obligation as President.” It also praised Trump for rejecting President Obama’s appeasement approach to the Iranian nuclear threat and stated that the world is now a safer place because of what Trump did.
