As the Israel-Iran war enters its seventh day, U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly edging closer to getting directly involved in the fight. Trump has approved plans to attack Iran, but has yet to give the final order, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday afternoon.
You can catch up on our coverage of Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, designed to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and dismantle its long-range weapons capabilities, here.
Trump “told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program,” the publication stated, citing three people familiar with the deliberations.
There’s another reported reason why Trump has yet to give the order. He is worried about what would happen if the U.S. dropped 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bombs – America’s most powerful conventional munition – on Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facility, but failed to destroy it, Axios reported.
“Pentagon officials told Trump they’re confident” that the MOPs would work…but it’s not clear Trump was totally convinced,” Axios noted.
As we have discussed many times in the past, even the mighty MOP might not be able to completely obliterate Iran’s deeply buried and heavily protected nuclear facilities like Fordow.
So far, the only aircraft certified to drop MOPs is the U.S. Air Force B-2A Spirit stealth bomber. Israel lacks the means strike Iran’s deepest installations and is considering alternative ways of destroying the Fordow nuclear facility should Trump not order an attack.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter hinted in recent interviews that the Israel Defense Forces have options beyond just airstrikes,” Axios explained. “One could be a risky commando raid. Israeli special forces conducted such an operation last September, albeit on a smaller scale, when they destroyed an underground missile factory in Syria by planting and detonating explosives.”
The War Zone for years has highlighted that Israel would likely be left to a high-risk ground operation if it were to attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear program without the help of U.S. airpower.
On Wednesday, Trump went public with his thinking, saying he won’t really know until the last minute whether he will pull the trigger.
“I have ideas on what to do but I haven’t made a final—I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due,” he told reporters Wednesday.
As we reported earlier on Wednesday, Trump has been more coy about whether he will attack Iran.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.” Trump stated.
The Latest:
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Gen. Michael Kurilla met with Trump and presented him with military options regarding Iran, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. Kurilla himself supports joining Israeli strikes
Today, 12 U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters landed at Lakenheath Air Base in England, reportedly bound for Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. It’s the latest plus-up of U.S. forces that have seen an increase in Navy and Air Force assets. So far, however, the U.S. has only provided defensive support to Israel. American ground, sea, and air-based systems have been helping, albeit in a limited way, shoot down some of the hundreds of ballistic missiles and roughly 1,000 drones Iran has fired.
To date, Iran has launched more than 400 ballistic missiles, with just over 20 hitting urban areas, causing casualties and extensive damage, according to a post on X by Times of Israel reporter Emanue Fabian. About two dozen people have been killed and more than 500 wounded.
Still, the number of casualties is far lower than Israeli officials anticipated, Fabian noted. To defend against these missiles, Israel, with some help from the U.S., has been shooting at them. Israel’s interception rate is 90%, with 30 of 370 Iranian missiles impacting Israel as of June 17, the Wall Street Journal reported.
You can see the Raptors landing at Lakenheath in the following video made by a plane spotter there.
Low-resolution satellite imagery posted on social media seems to indicate that the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar is nearly empty. The base is home to a diverse array of aircraft, including a rotating mix of bombers, fighters, refuelers, surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and other airframes. Earlier in the day, we contacted U.S. officials for comment, but they declined. Previously, the Navy moved assets out of Bahrain ahead of any possible Iranian attack.
Meanwhile, Israel and Iran continue to attack each other. The IDF said it repelled the most recent Iranian missile barrage while launching several more airstrikes.
“The IDF completed a series of strikes in Tehran: Over 20 military targets including nuclear weapons development project sites, and missile production sites belonging to the Iranian regime in the area of Tehran were targeted,” IDF claimed on Telegram. “Over the past hours, 60 IAF fighter jets, with the precise direction of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, struck over 20 military targets in Tehran.”
Israel’s nearly complete air dominance has not only allowed its fighters freedom of action, but it has also enabled its aerial refueling jets to move farther east. This has providing fighters more gas to sustain longer operations and to lug much harder-hitting direct attack munitions to strike larger and more heavily fortified targets. So far, the IAF said it has conducted more than 600 aerial refuelings. That’s a critical capability, considering Israel has struck targets 1,400 miles away.
Iran’s state-run television channel was reportedly hacked, and instead of broadcasting its normal fare, it played anti-regime and pro-revolution messaging.
The U.S. Embassy in Israel has authorized some American diplomats and family members to leave and are now being flown out of the country by the U.S. military, two State Department officials familiar with the matter told ABC News.
“Given the ongoing situation and as part of the Embassy’s authorized departure status, Mission personnel have begun departing Israel through a variety of means,” a State Department spokesperson said.
As Trump weighs his options, “the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain plan to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva,” a German diplomatic source told Reuters. “The ministers will first meet with the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, at Germany’s permanent mission in Geneva before holding a joint meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, the source said.”
In a message on X, Wall Street Journal reporter Laurence Normaan said “the U.S. is in the picture” in these negotiations.
This is a developing story. Stay with The War Zone for updates.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com