Trump news at a glance: President mulls whether ‘bunker busters' can destroy Iranian nuclear site
Will he or won't he? That's the question many are asking regarding whether Donald Trump will join Israel's attacks on Iran and take out one of its most difficult targets: the Fordow nuclear enrichment site.
But another question has arisen. Can he?
Trump signalled on Thursday that he will take two weeks to decide whether or not to strike. Guardian reporting suggests he is not fully convinced the US Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs – better known as 'bunker busters' – will effectively destroy Fordow, built deep into a mountain south of Tehran. That the 13.6-tonne bomb could fall short of that goal is a concern that some military analysts have echoed.
But it's a coveted target for Israel, which has already destroyed some of Iran's nuclear capability but lacks the powerful bombs and aircraft to do any real damage to the secretive site. The US is the only country in the world to possess bunker busters and only US aircraft can deliver them.
Here are the key stories at a glance:
Trump has set a two-week deadline to decide whether the US will join Israel's war with Iran, allowing time to seek a negotiated end to the conflict, the White House has said.
The president also denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that he told senior aides he had approved attack plans but was delaying on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program. The report cited three anonymous officials.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers said they blocked US immigration enforcement agents from accessing the parking lot at Dodger Stadium on Thursday and got into public back-and-forth statements with Ice and the Department of Homeland Security, which denied their agents were ever there.
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The Department of Homeland Security is now requiring lawmakers to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance. The guidance comes after a slew of tense visits from Democratic lawmakers to detention centers amid Trump's crackdowns in immigrant communities across the country.
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A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump's administration from forcing 20 Democratic-led states to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollars in transportation grant funding.
Chief US district judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, granted the states' request for an injunction barring the Department for Transportation's policy, saying the states were likely to succeed on the merits of some or all of their claims.
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The office of the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, requested 'a passive approach to Juneteenth messaging', according to an exclusive Rolling Stone report citing a Pentagon email.
The messaging request for Juneteenth – a federal holiday commemorating when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free – was transmitted by the Pentagon's office of the chief of public affairs. This office said it was not poised to publish web content related to Juneteenth, Rolling Stone reported.
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Depending on who you ask, between 4 and 6 million people showed up to last weekend's 'No Kings' protests. Now the real number is becoming clearer, with one estimate suggesting that Saturday was among the biggest.
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Karen Bass, a 71-year-old former community organizer, is leading Los Angeles' response to an extraordinary confrontation staged by the federal government, as federal agents have raided workplaces and parking lots, arresting immigrant workers in ways family members have compared to 'kidnappings'. Here's what to know about the mayor of Los Angeles.
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Friends and family of Moises Sotelo, a well-known vineyard manager, say they are 'disappointed and disgusted' after he was detained outside the Oregon church he attends.
Brad Lander, the New York mayoral candidate arrested by Ice says 'Trump is looking to stoke conflict, weaponize fear'.
What is Donald Trump's plan for Iran? The Guardian's Rachel Leingang and Andrew Roth discuss in the Politics Weekly America podcast. Also, this Today in Focus episode explores what Israel's new war means for Gaza.
Catching up? Here's what happened on 18 June 2025.
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