A Trump returned to Washington, speculation grew that the US would join Israel’s war. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on June 19 that Trump would decide whether the US would intervene in the war within “two weeks”.
But this was largely a deception, meant to wrong-foot Iran. Trump had all but made up his mind to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Assassination plots against Iran’s leader
Throughout the war, Israel repeatedly threatened to assassinate Khamenei.
Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill the supreme leader, AP and Reuters reported. He also claimed to know the whereabouts of Khamenei and suggested the US could kill him easily if it wished to do so.
“He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now … our patience is wearing thin,” Trump said on Truth Social on June 18.
Meanwhile, more Iranian generals were killed in Israeli strikes.
Flights cancelled, Fleeing Iranians stuck in traffic
While Trump mulled joining the war, the airspace over Israel and Iran remained closed (although Israel began limited flights departing the country on Tuesday). Flights throughout the region have been impacted, forcing airlines carrying Australians to Europe to change course.
Thousands of Australians stranded in both Israel and Iran have requested emergency assistance from DFAT.
Iranians fleeing Tehran, a city of nearly 10 million, have been stuck on gridlocked outbound highways. The chaos inside Tehran has been made worse by widespread internet outages, which have stifled communication.
This had put many Iranians on edge, said Alam Saleh, a lecturer at the Australian National University who became trapped in Tehran while visiting when Israel attacked.
“It definitely makes things more concerning, because people try to hear from each other, ensure that families are in touch, especially when civilian targets are bombed,” he said from Tehran.
US bombs Iran
The United States joined Israel’s war and attacked Iranian nuclear sites, US President Donald Trump announced in a post on social media on June 22.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan,” he said.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”
Trump warned Iran against retaliating, and said “future attacks will be far greater”.
Six of the United States’ B-2 stealth bombers dropped a dozen massive “bunker-busting” bombs on Iran’s deep underground Fordow nuclear base – where it’s suspected the regime was enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade. Two bunker-busters were dropped on Natanz, and missiles from a US Navy submarine struck the Isfahan facility.
Only America had the weapons capable of blowing up the well-defended and secretive Fordow facility.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump for his “bold” attack and said the US “has done what no other country on earth could do”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said the US violated international law and the United Nations charter, and Iran reserved “all options” to defend itself.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told The New York Times that he believed Iran might have transported its enriched uranium in a fleet of cars from the Isfahan facility.
Hospital and prison targeted
Through it all, Iran and Israel have continued to attack each other. Though Israel claims to have crippled much of Iran’s military capabilities, the Islamic republic still manages to evade Israeli air defences and strike residential buildings.
Iran’s missiles hit civilian areas in Israel, including Soroka hospital in the southern city of Beersheba, injuring people. Nobody was killed in the attack.
Israel on Monday targeted Tehran’s Evin Prison, which historically has held political prisoners and Westerners, including Australian researcher Kylie Moore-Gilbert, from 2018 to 2020.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to the prison. Black-and-white footage shared by Iranian state TV showed the facilities’ front gate exploding in the strike.
Iran’s Health Ministry estimates that about 500 Iranians have been killed and another 3000 wounded in the Israeli strikes, but human rights organisations fear the real figure is almost double.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed, according to the latest figures from authorities.
Iran attacks US base
In response to the US raid, Iran launched missiles towards the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which houses US troops as well as the air forces of Qatar and Britain. Explosions could be heard overhead in the Gulf state’s capital of Doha as air defences worked to intercept the attack.
The Qatar Defence Ministry said Iran fired 19 missiles and one made landfall, but there were no deaths or injuries. This was in part due to Iran warning the US before the attack, which enabled the evacuation of personnel.
Trump said the Iranian response was “very weak” and was both expected and effectively countered.
US Vice President JD Vance said the attack appeared to be symbolic rather than malicious.
“They actually gave us some warning here … because they didn’t want to kill Americans, and they didn’t want to escalate,” he told Fox News.
“There’s definitely some symbolism to this … if you look at the Iranian attack, it was 14 missiles that they telegraphed ahead of time [and] we dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs.”
Ceasefire announced
Just hours after Iran attacked the air base, Trump claimed it had agreed to a “complete and total” ceasefire.
“Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Iran’s Araghchi said Iran had not struck a ceasefire agreement, but would stop its attacks if Israel stopped its airstrikes on Tehran. Iranian state television later announced a ceasefire, and Araghchi posted on X that the Iranian military had fought “until the very last minute”.
There was no immediate official comment from Israel, which kept up strikes on Iran as the proposed deadline neared. Israel’s military warned the public of incoming Iranian missiles after the ceasefire was due to have started.
Whether Trump’s claimed ceasefire comes to fruition remains to be seen.
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