By JOSH BOAK and MIKE PESOLI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Sunday despatched a sequence of conflicting messages to Iran — with U.S. officers initially indicating a willingness to renew negotiations after a shock assault on three of the nation’s nuclear websites and President Donald Trump speaking up the opportunity of regime change.
“It’s not politically right 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.
The Trump administration has made a sequence of intimidating statements even because it has concurrently referred to as to restart negotiations, making it onerous 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 conflict between Israel and Iran.
Up till the U.S. president’s submit on Sunday afternoon, the coordinated messaging by Trump’s vice chairman, Pentagon chief, high navy adviser and secretary of state steered a confidence that any fallout could be manageable and that Iran’s lack of navy capabilities would finally power it again to the bargaining desk.
Hegseth had stated that America “doesn’t search conflict” 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 totally below Washington’s management, as Tehran has a sequence of levers to answer the aerial bombings that would intensify the battle within the Center East with potential world repercussions. Iran can block oil being shipped by the Strait of Hormuz, assault U.S. bases within the area, have interaction in cyber assaults or double down on a nuclear program that may appear to be 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 part 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, who had addressed the nation from the White Home on Saturday evening, returned to social media on Sunday 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’d use it if they may!)” Trump stated as a part of the submit on Fact Social.
What Trump’s nationwide safety crew needed to say
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 purpose 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 every one three websites sustained extraordinarily extreme injury and destruction,” Caine stated.
Vance stated in a tv interview that whereas he wouldn’t talk about “delicate intelligence about what we’ve seen on the bottom,” he felt “very assured that we’ve considerably delayed their growth of a nuclear weapon.”
Pressed additional, he informed NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “I feel that now we have actually pushed their program again by a really very long time. I feel that it’s going to be many a few years earlier than the Iranians are in a position to develop a nuclear weapon.”
The vice chairman 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 truly assume it supplies a possibility to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a spot the place Iran can resolve 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.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that “there are not any deliberate navy operations proper now in opposition to Iran, except, except they fiddle they usually assault” U.S. pursuits.
Trump has beforehand threatened different international locations, however typically backed down or did not comply with by, given his guarantees to his coalition of voters to not entangle the USA in an prolonged conflict. 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 may result in extra preventing throughout the Center East after the U.S. inserted itself into the conflict between Israel and Iran. Israeli airstrikes that started on June 13 native time focused Iran’s nuclear amenities and generals, prompting retaliation from Iran and making a sequence of occasions that contributed to the U.S. assault.
Whereas U.S. officers urged warning and harassed that solely nuclear websites had been focused by Washington, Iran criticized the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and worldwide regulation.
Iran’s overseas minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated Washington was “absolutely accountable” for no matter actions Tehran could absorb response.
“They crossed a really large purple line by attacking nuclear amenities,” 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 regulation,” 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 in regards to the threat of the battle spreading to “a worldwide stage.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated the UK was transferring navy gear into the world to guard its pursuits, folks and allies. His workplace stated he talked on Sunday with Trump in regards to 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 may attempt to cease oil exports by the Strait of Hormuz, which may create the identical sort of inflationary shocks that the world felt after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil costs elevated within the monetary markets because the conflict between Israel and Iran had intensified, climbing by 21% over the previous month.
Hegseth gives 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 came upon” 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 won’t exist. He meant it.”
That assertion was difficult because the White Home had steered final 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 techniques didn’t see us all through the mission,” Caine stated.
Hegseth stated {that a} selection to maneuver a lot of 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.
The strikes occurred Saturday between 6:40 p.m. and seven:05 p.m. in Washington, or roughly 2:10 a.m. on Sunday in Iran.
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Related Press writers Brian Melley and Elise Morton in London, Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.
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This story has been corrected to mirror that Caine, not Hegseth, stated the bombers dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Fordo in addition to on Natanz.
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