• The United States hopes that a bombing of a bunker will cause Iran to collapse. However, there is no assurance.
• Trump’s pledge to refrain from “endless wars” and the possibility of leaving a lasting legacy were contrasted during the debate.

The greatest outcome of President Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran was the eventual destruction of a rogue nuclear program that had eluded six of his predecessors.

The greatest fear: The United States is now embroiled in another war in a volatile region with dangerous and uncertain repercussions, just four years after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan ended America’s longest war.

In a late-night announcement in the East Room on June 21, Trump interrupted Americans’ Saturday night plans by announcing that B-2 bombers had dropped the world’s most potent conventional bombs on three locations deemed critical to Tehran’s nuclear program. He stated, “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.” “The Middle East’s bully, Iran, needs to make peace now.”

In any case, that is the premise of “Operation Midnight Hammer”—that Tehran will be compelled to give up its nuclear program in spite of its initial bellicosity.

Trump conceded, however, that there were alternative options.

Surrounded by a somber-looking trio of advisors, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vice President JD Vance, he remarked, “Remember, there are many targets left.” “We will pursue those other targets with skill, precision, and speech if peace does not materialize quickly.”

A conflict between Trump’s core beliefs

Some of Trump’s most basic impulses were at odds during the White House debate over whether to launch the bombers.

One is his passionate opposition to “forever wars,” such as the expensive and divisive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during each of his three presidential campaigns. His “America First” agenda demonstrates his resolve to concentrate more on domestic issues and less on foreign issues like Ukraine.

Some key figures in the MAGA movement did not agree with the president’s decision, despite the fact that the majority of Republican congressional leaders did. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia lamented on social media that “this is not our fight.” “Every time America is about to become great, we end up in another war abroad.”

However, Trump is also renowned for being impatient with issues that have defied conventional fixes. Take his willingness to use the full force of the law to find and deport millions of undocumented immigrants, for example.

Like much of diplomacy, the protracted negotiations with Iran appeared unlikely to result in the kind of dramatic and definitive conclusion he prefers.

On June 21, 2025, President Donald Trump meets in the White House Situation Room.

His support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who contends that Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to his nation, is also evident in the bombing of Iran. The prime minister considers it a legacy to have realized his long-held goal of dismantling that program.

It’s also part of Trump’s legacy, sending a strong message to a president who is unable to run for office again.

That was a chord that Netanyahu touched. In Tel Aviv, he congratulated President Trump. “His leadership today has set a historical turning point that can guide the Middle East and beyond toward a prosperous and peaceful future.”

As planes departed for home, congressional leaders were informed.

This will be Trump’s war, for better or worse.

For starters, he did not ask Congress’s consent, which is constitutionally empowered to declare war, even though the president has broad powers to order the use of force. Presidents must notify Congress and set time limits for deployments under the War Powers Act, which was passed in response to President Richard Nixon’s covert bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing early on June 22 that the administration promptly informed congressional leaders that the U.S. bombers had left Iranian airspace.

Trump has run the risk of entangling the United States in a protracted conflict “without consulting Congress, without a clear strategy, without regard to the consistent conclusions of the intelligence community, and without explaining to the American people what’s at stake,” according to Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

In echoes of the Iraq War, those will be the components of the upcoming debate. To what extent did Iran pose a nuclear threat? How will voters balance the costs and the stakes?

Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran, charged in Istanbul that Trump had “deceived his own voters” by going on strike in spite of his campaign pledges. He asserted that the U.S. government bears “sole and full responsibility for the consequences of its actions.” He did not, however, say if Iran would strike back at American forces stationed there.

A fresh round of Iranian missiles was fired toward Israel just hours after the bunker-buster bombs were dropped. The foreign minister is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 23. Putin is an ally, but he has his own war to fight.