Overview

• Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13, targeting Iran’s nuclear sites and killing the head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps along with senior officers and nuclear scientists.
• President Trump described the strikes as “very successful” in a phone call with CNN’s Dana Bash; he said the U.S. supports Israel like “nobody has ever supported it” and noted he had given Iran a 60-day warning.
• In the same call, Trump taunted that Iran’s hardliners “didn’t die of the flu” or Covid; he urged Tehran to “make a deal before there is nothing left.”
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Israel informed the administration of the strikes beforehand without explicitly endorsing them, revealing conflicting messages within the U.S. government.
• Iran has responded by dispatching more than 100 drones toward Israel; this action heightens fears of a wider regional conflict and complicates efforts to revive nuclear negotiations.