President Donald Trump announced Saturday evening that the U.S. had bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, and that he would be addressing the nation at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. He called on Iran to seek peace.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025
On Thursday, the White House said that Trump had decided to give Iran another two weeks to negotiate, in which he expected Iran to agree to give up its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for an end to the war.
The U.S. had not been directly involved in Israel’s war effort until Saturday, but had sold arms to Israel, had likely shared intelligence with Israel, and had moved strategic naval and air assets closer to the Middle East.
Iran’s response had been defiant, refusing to discuss the future of its nuclear program while under attack.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) applauded Trump’s decision, noting that it also sent a message:
The military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) June 22, 2025
The President gave Iran’s leader every opportunity to make a deal, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement.
President… https://t.co/8lj3jAXQyx
The chairs of the Senate and House intelligence committees also weighed in in support of Trump’s decision:
Iran has waged a war of terror against the United States for 46 years. We could never allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. God bless our brave troops. President Trump made the right call and the ayatollahs should recall his warning not to target Americans.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 22, 2025
As I have said multiple times recently, I regret that Iran has brought the world to this point. That said, I am thankful President Trump understood that the red line—articulated by Presidents of both parties for decades—was real. The United States and our allies, including… https://t.co/N2ppgkeZ3j
— Rep. Rick Crawford (@RepRickCrawford) June 22, 2025
Trump called Israeli journalist Barak Ravid to tell him that Israel was much safer because of the attack:
🚨🚨🚨President Trump tells me in a phone call: "We had great success tonight. Your Israel is much safer now" https://t.co/7S0QTWvTnE
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) June 22, 2025
Reactions from Israel were positive, with many Israelis still asleep at the time the attack was announced (3:00 a.m. local time). There had been no immediate reports about the results of the airstrikes.
One Israeli-American who spoke to Israel’s Army Radio from the United States exclaimed: “Thank God we voted for Donald Trump!” He said there had been no real split among Trump supporters about the war.
Polling data provided exclusively to Breitbart News from Rasmussen Reports showed that a plurality of Americans favored an air or naval attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, but not the use of ground troops in the war.
Though the same polling data showed that Democrats opposed Israel’s attack on Iran, and U.S. involvement, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a strong supporter of Israel, shared his support for Trump’s decision to attack:
As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS.
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 22, 2025
Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.
I’m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/YZ0pIaunff
Update 9:15 p.m. ET: Unconfirmed reports suggested that the U.S. had used as many as 30 “bunker buster” bombs — that is, GBU-57 bombs. The Washington Post described these:
Iran’s hardened, underground nuclear sites are impervious to most conventional weapons, except perhaps the U.S.-made, 30,000-pound, deep-penetrating bomb. B-2 bombers can carry two of these bombs at a time — the GBU-57s, better known as “bunker busters” or Massive Ordnance Penetrators. The question is whether the reinforcement and heavy rock at Fordow, Iran’s most deeply buried nuclear enrichment site, can withstand the hits.
Reports on social media indicated a mix of shock and defiance from the Iranian regime and its supporters.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
