Trump keeps world guessing on Iran strategy amid sudden shift to military action
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President Donald Trump's handling of the Iran crisis is drawing scrutiny from diplomats and foreign policy analysts, following a pattern of conflicting public statements and unannounced strategic shifts that culminated in US airstrikes on Iran 's nuclear facilities.The airstrikes, which targeted Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan on Saturday, June 21, came just two days after reports suggested Trump had given Iran a two-week window for further nuclear negotiations. That followed earlier signals from the White House indicating that Israel would hold back from unilateral strikes, messages that were swiftly upended when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13, targeting Iranian nuclear and military assets.Also read: US President Donald Trump's step back on Iran pacifies nervous market The sequence of events has left global observers questioning whether the US president's diplomatic posturing is deliberately opaque or lacking internal coordination.In a Truth Social post early Saturday morning, June 21, just hours before the airstrikes, Trump promoted his record of brokering peace across global conflicts, including efforts between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and cited his work on the Abraham Accords, India-Pakistan tensions, and Egypt-Ethiopia disputes. He suggested that his peace efforts have gone unrecognized by international institutions.https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114717932061341718However, within hours, US B-2 stealth bombers launched attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, signaling a sharp escalation. In the same post-strike update, Trump claimed the Fordow facility was 'gone' and called the attack 'very successful,' while also asserting that 'now is the time for peace.'The abrupt shift has raised doubts about whether Trump's administration is pursuing a coherent strategy or simply reacting to events on the ground. Diplomatic sources say there had been ongoing communication between US and Iranian intermediaries in Geneva as recently as Friday, June 20.Also read: Trump weighs military action on Iran, to make a decision within two weeks, says White House 'This strategy of calculated unpredictability may serve short-term tactical goals,' said one European diplomat on condition of anonymity, 'but it erodes long-term trust in US commitments.'This is not the first instance in which Trump's statements have contradicted unfolding realities. Prior to Israel's Operation Rising Lion, Trump officials had suggested that Israeli strikes were unlikely in the near term. Instead, the operation began on June 13, catching several allies off guard.Now, the pattern appears to have repeated with the US itself. After hinting at diplomatic off-ramps and timelines for talks, the administration moved to a full kinetic strike with little public warning.As Iran signals possible retaliation, allies and adversaries alike are left navigating a volatile situation shaped as much by unpredictability as policy.
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Time of India
27 minutes ago
- Time of India
2 F-5 jets downed, key military sites hit: Israel gives 24-hour recap; shares video of strikes on Iran
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday said it had destroyed two Iranian fighter jets and eight ballistic missile launchers in a sweeping overnight operation that targeted dozens of military installations across Iran. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The strikes, carried out by 20 Israeli fighter jets, reportedly hit key sites including Dezful and Isfahan airports. According to the IDF, the Israeli Air Force bombed two Iranian F-5 fighter jets at Dezful Airport, while missile launchers prepared for imminent strikes on Israel were also neutralised. 'This morning, the IAF struck missile launchers ready to launch toward Israeli territory, soldiers in the Iranian Armed Forces, and swiftly neutralised the launchers that launched missiles toward Israel,' the IDF said in a statement. Additional targets included explosive production sites, weapons storage and air defence systems. Military infrastructure at Isfahan Airport was also hit to prevent the Iranian Air Force from using the facility. The escalation came just hours after the United States entered the fray, striking three nuclear sites in Iran — Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz — in a coordinated effort with Israel. President Donald Trump declared that Iran's nuclear programme had been 'completely and fully obliterated,' although no independent damage assessment has yet been released. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation confirmed the attacks but said its programme would continue. The UN nuclear watchdog reported no signs of radioactive leakage but confirmed it would continue monitoring. Following the US strikes, Iran launched a retaliatory barrage of 40 missiles targeting Israeli cities, including Haifa and Tel Aviv. Over 80 people were reportedly injured. Israel said it had 'swiftly neutralised' the launchers responsible and began a new wave of strikes on western Iran. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Trump described the joint offensive as a historic moment. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran… All planes are safely on their way home,' he posted online. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US President's bold move, calling it a decision that 'will change history.' Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry condemned the attacks, warning that the US had 'launched a dangerous war' and reserved the right to respond 'with full force.' The situation has sparked growing international concern, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling the strikes a 'dangerous escalation' and warning of 'catastrophic consequences.'
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
What are the nuclear contamination risks from attacks on Iran?
President Trump announced U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, joining earlier Israeli attacks. Experts suggest limited contamination risks from strikes on uranium enrichment facilities, mainly chemical rather than radiological. Gulf states are especially concerned about potential contamination of desalinated water sources if the Bushehr reactor is hit, prompting high alert and emergency plans. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads WHICH IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES HAVE BEEN HIT SO FAR? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads WHAT RISKS DO THESE STRIKES POSE? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads WHAT ABOUT NUCLEAR REACTORS? WHY ARE GULF STATES ESPECIALLY WORRIED? President Donald Trump said Iran's main nuclear sites had been "obliterated" in military strikes overnight, including on the deeply buried Fordow facility, as the U.S. joined attacks launched by Israel on June have said military strikes on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities pose limited risks of contamination, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday no increased off-site radiation levels had been reported following the U.S. U.S. military struck sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Trump said Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated". The attacks follow previously announced Israeli attacks on nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran says it aims to stop Iran building a nuclear bomb and the U.S. says Tehran would not be allowed to get such weapons. Iran denies ever seeking nuclear international nuclear watchdog IAEA has previously reported damage to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, the nuclear complex at Isfahan that includes the Uranium Conversion Facility and to centrifuge production facilities in Karaj and has also attacked Arak, also known as Khondab. The IAEA said Israeli military strikes hit the Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor, which was under construction and had not begun operating, and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy IAEA said it was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so there were no radiological effects. Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make an atom to Reuters before the U.S. strikes took place, experts said Israel's attacks had posed limited contamination risks so Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at London think-tank RUSI, said attacks on facilities at the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle - the stages where uranium is prepared for use in a reactor - pose primarily chemical, not radiological enrichment facilities, UF6, or uranium hexafluoride, is the concern."When UF6 interacts with water vapour in the air, it produces harmful chemicals," she said. "In low winds, much of the material can be expected to settle in the vicinity of the facility; in high winds, the material will travel farther, but is also likely to disperse more widely. The risk of harmful chemicals being dispersed is lower for underground facilities."Simon Bennett, who leads the civil safety and security unit at the University of Leicester in Britain, said risks to the environment were minimal when subterranean facilities are hit because you are "burying nuclear material in possibly thousands of tonnes of concrete, earth and rock".James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that before uranium goes into a nuclear reactor it is barely radioactive. "The chemical form uranium hexafluoride is toxic ... but it actually doesn't tend to travel large distances and it's barely radioactive," he on enrichment facilities were "unlikely to cause significant off-site consequences", he said, while stating his opposition to Israel's major concern would be a strike on Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Gulf of catastrophe rippled through the Gulf on June 19 when the Israeli military said it had struck a site in Bushehr, only to say later that the announcement was a says it wants to avoid any nuclear Wakeford, honorary professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester, said that while contamination from attacks on enrichment facilities would be "mainly a chemical problem" for the surrounding areas, extensive damage to large power reactors "is a different story".Radioactive elements would be released either through a plume of volatile materials or into the sea, he of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said an attack on Bushehr "could cause an absolute radiological catastrophe".For Gulf states, the impact of any strike on Bushehr would be worsened by the potential contamination of Gulf waters, jeopardising a critical source of desalinated potable Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is on high alert to monitor for any possible environmental contamination after the attacks, said a source with knowledge of the matter. There have been no signs of radiological contamination so far, the source said, adding that the GCC had emergency plans in place in case of a threat to water and food security in the the United Arab Emirates, desalinated water accounts for more than 80% of drinking water, while Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100% of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, authorities is also 100% dependent on desalinated Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50% of the water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for some Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE have access to more than one sea to draw water from, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are crowded along the shoreline of the Gulf with no other coastline."If a natural disaster, oil spill, or even a targeted attack were to disrupt a desalination plant, hundreds of thousands could lose access to freshwater almost instantly," said Nidal Hilal, professor of engineering and director of New York University Abu Dhabi's Water Research Center."Coastal desalination plants are especially vulnerable to regional hazards like oil spills and potential nuclear contamination," he said.
India.com
31 minutes ago
- India.com
Global Leaders React After US Strikes Irans Nuclear Sites
The United States bombed Iran's three nuclear facilities early Sunday which broke out global silence and triggered urgent global leaders to react on the matter of US intervention in the Middle East war. Earlier, US President Donald Trump claimed the attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. Trump stated, "There is not another military in the World that could have done this", adding, "Now is the time for peace." World Leaders Reactions Iran Iran strongly condemned the US airstrikes, with Foreign Minister Abbad Araghchi sharing a post on X and saying, "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior." United Nations UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed grave alarm over the use of force by the United States, warning that further escalation could lead to disastrous consequences. 'There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,' Guterres said in a statement posted on X. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia shared a statement in a post on 'X' and wrote, 'The Kingdom of Saudia Arabia is following with great concern the developments in the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran, represented by the targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States of America.' United Kingdom Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer shared a post on X and urged Iran to come back to the negotiating table. 'Iran's nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat,' he said. Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised US President Donald Trump for what he described as a 'bold and historic' military operation targeting Iran's three nuclear sites including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. "Congratulations, President Trump. Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history," Netanyahu said.
