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June 22, 2025

Good morning. America bombed Iran’s nuclear sites. You're probably waking up wondering what is happening now, so we have the latest news:

Iran is threatening to retaliate, and U.S. forces are braced for it. Israel and Iran exchanged missiles this morning. World leaders are responding to the U.S. attack.

We’re also explaining everything we know about the strikes.

At the White House.  Pool photo by Carlos Barria

American bombs

	by Lauren Jackson and Evan Gorelick

Last night, the U.S. entered the war with Iran.

President Trump upended decades of diplomacy when he sent American warplanes and submarines to strike three of Iran’s nuclear facilities — including Fordo, its top-secret site buried deep inside a mountain. The bombs fell at about 2:30 a.m. local time.

In an address from the White House, Trump said the goal of the strikes was to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon. He claimed the facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated,” but the extent of the damage is not yet clear.

Trump also called for the war to end. “Iran, the bully of the Mideast, must now make peace,” he said. He threatened “far greater” attacks if it did not.

Still, the war continues: Iran said today that it wasn’t open to diplomacy right now. It launched missiles into Israel early this morning, wounding at least 16. Israel responded with its own strikes on Iran. More than 40,000 American troops are stationed in the region, and the U.S. is expecting retaliation. (See American bases that Iran could strike.)

The U.S. attack was an “extraordinary turn for a military that was supposed to be moving on from two decades of forever wars in the Middle East,” our colleagues Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian Barnes wrote.

Below, we explain the strikes and what could happen next.

What were the targets?

The New York Times

America targeted three Iranian sites, including the buried facility at Fordo, the crown jewel in the country’s nuclear program. The U.S. is the only country believed to have bombs big enough to reach it. Israel has been asking Trump to strike the site since its offensive began. Now he has.

Here’s what we know about each target:

Fordo: Iran built this site — where centrifuges concentrate uranium to a form used in nuclear weapons — inside a mountain to shield it from attacks. The U.S. military concluded that one “bunker-buster” bomb would not destroy it. So six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen of these 30,000-pound weapons, a U.S. official said. The attack was the first time the military had used the weapon in combat. See how the powerful bombs work. Natanz: This is the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran. Its centrifuge halls are also buried deep underground, but experts say this site is less secretive and less heavily fortified. Israel struck the site recently with warplanes; the U.S. struck it with cruise missiles launched from submarines. Isfahan: The U.S. also hit a site that holds Iran’s largest nuclear fuel stockpiles near the ancient city of Isfahan. Israel hit parts of the facility last week but avoided the fuel.

Why did the U.S. strike?

The U.S. says it is joining Israel in its war to keep Iran from creating a nuclear bomb.

Trump pledged as a presidential candidate to keep America out of “stupid endless wars.” But he also vowed to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Israel and Iran, sworn enemies for decades, have been striking each other for more than a week. Israelis launched a surprise assault that targeted Iranian infrastructure, including nuclear installations, and military leaders. Israel wanted U.S. help, but Trump was noncommittal.

When Israel began its attacks, the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said, “We are not involved in strikes against Iran.” Trump said that he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to help. He took two days.

What’s next?

It’s not clear. But experts at The Times, including our Cairo bureau chief Vivian Yee, outlined a few scenarios:

Iran could retaliate: The U.S. has troops on bases and warships across the Middle East. Iran might attack them. It might also create havoc in international shipping: It could move to shut the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit hub for the world’s oil and natural gas. All the options carry risks for Iran’s clerical rulers. Read more about their dilemma.

Iran could negotiate: The strikes could give the U.S. leverage in its negotiations to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity. They may also force Iran to the table. Still, the prospects for a diplomatic solution don’t seem promising, our colleague Michael Shear writes.

The war could get messier: Iran’s allied militias in the region, including the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed groups in Iraq, have not fully joined the fight.

But that could change.

More news

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had not detected any increase in off-site radiation levels at the nuclear sites the U.S. attacked. Read the latest news. Benjamin Netanyahu said that the U.S. strikes had been carried out “in full coordination” between the American and Israeli militaries. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been in a bunker, with limited communication, to protect him from possible assassination.

Responses

Israel: The Israeli foreign minister said that Trump “wrote his name tonight in golden letters in the history books.” Netanyahu also praised the attack. Iran: The Iranian foreign minister said that the attacks would have “everlasting consequences.” United Nations: António Guterres, the head of the U.N., called the U.S. attacks a “dangerous escalation” and “a direct threat to international peace and security.” Republicans, including Mike Johnson and John Thune, rallied behind Trump, calling the strikes a necessary check on Iran’s nuclear efforts. Some, including Mitch McConnell, criticized the strikes. Democrats condemned the attack as unconstitutional and warned that it could drag the U.S. into a long war.

See more responses.

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

Mahmoud Khalil with his family, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, at Newark airport. Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia pro-Palestinian activist, returned to New York after months in detention. See video of him walking through Newark airport with his wife and child. A top Senate official rejected an attempt by Republicans to slash federal food aid payments as part of their large policy bill.

New York Mayor

The Democratic primary in the New York City mayor’s race is Tuesday. Bill Clinton will endorse Andrew Cuomo for mayor, the latest example of how establishment Democrats seem to favor Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani, his progressive rival. Brad Lander, a senior city official who is also running for mayor, appeared at a closing campaign event alongside two women who have accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct.

Weather

A dangerous heat wave baked the Midwest and Central Plains. The heat index reached triple digits in St. Louis and Chicago yesterday. Temperatures in New York this coming week are expected to reach the 90s and feel hotter.

IN ONE CHART

Source: New York Times analysis of internal and public databases | Data is as of May 7.

Trump froze funds for foreign aid on his first day in office. Elon Musk’s DOGE team then cut most staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development and canceled nearly all of its programs. But the agency isn’t fully dead yet. Some programs were subsequently restored, like ones addressing acute disease and hunger, after months of pleas from advocates and politicians.

Aid workers say they have yet to see a realistic plan from the administration for how foreign aid will work. Read our investigation into what remains at U.S.A.I.D.

THE SUNDAY DEBATE

After conversations with the government, Kraft Heinz said it would remove synthetic dyes from its products. Will that make food healthier?

Yes. Some synthetic food dyes are associated with behavioral issues and, potentially, cancer. “This is a cause with history, science and voters on its side and it’s one where both sides can actually agree,” The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board writes.

No. Removing one category of dyes is a superficial change. “To truly ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ we must make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable,” Selina Wang writes for MSNBC.

FROM OPINION

The Flushing Meadows Corona Park Aquatics Center. Diana Markosian for The New York Times

Swim in public pools to learn sympathy, forgiveness and competitiveness with strangers, Apoorva Tadepalli writes.

Here’s a column by Nicholas Kristof on U.S.A.I.D.

The Times Sale: Our best rate for readers of The Morning.

Save now with our best offer on unlimited news and analysis as part of the complete Times experience: $1/week for your first year.

MORNING READS

An object of desire. J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

Button pushing: Some young people love old BlackBerrys.

Does it matter you hold a cello? It’s a centuries-old debate.

Trending: People online are searching for information about a hot-air balloon that caught fire and crashed in a tourist region of Brazil. The crash killed at least eight people.

Lives Lived: Nathan Silver was an architect whose elegiac 1967 book, “Lost New York,” documented many buildings that were demolished before the city passed a landmarks preservation law. Silver died at 89.

SPORTS

M.L.B.: After coming under pressure to take a stand against ICE raids, the L.A. Dodgers committed $1 million to aid immigrant families.

Olympics: The Senegal women’s national basketball team canceled a 10-day training camp after the U.S. rejected visas for five players and six staff members.

BOOK(S) OF THE WEEK

Scribner

	By Elisabeth Egan

“Never Flinch” and “The Life of Chuck” by Stephen King: At this point, Stephen King has a best seller every year. It’s not common, though, for him to have two at the same time, as he does his week. The first, “Never Flinch,” is a cinematic, propulsive follow-up to his 2023 thriller “Holly,” and the second, “The Life of Chuck,” is a 128-page stand-alone short story from 2020’s “If It Bleeds.” This special edition, timed to the release of a new movie starring Tom Hiddleston, feels more relevant than ever. The internet is failing; California is slipping into the ocean; bridges are falling and roads are undriveable. In short, we’re in “The Twilight Zone,” but it’s not so hard to get our bearings as Chuck, the man at the center of it all, progresses backward from death to his final months as a healthy man. In the introduction, King describes this as a tale of “the joy of life in the shadow of death.” Indeed, amid the devastation there is love and family and dancing in the streets.

THE INTERVIEW

Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

	By David Marchese

This week’s subject for The Interview is the comedian and podcaster Andrew Schulz, whose podcast “Flagrant” has featured interviews with President Trump and Bernie Sanders. We talked about his newfound political influence, along with what he’s learned about himself since he and his wife had a child via in vitro fertilization.

I.V.F. was an important subject for you to bring up with Trump, and then when you’re having that conversation with him, you said — I’m paraphrasing — something like, I think it’s important for women moderates to hear that.

I don’t recall saying that. Oh, was I saying, women who might be on the fence about who you are as a person and how much you care about their bodies and their ability to make choices with their bodies?

Right.

How’d it make you feel? Do you think I was trying to promote him to them?

It made me confused, because there was no mention of the fact that Donald Trump was credibly accused of groping a bunch of women or found liable in a civil suit for sexual abuse. So why was one thing important to hear and not another?

It’s a fair question. The reaction I would have is: What is less known? I don’t think there’s a person on the planet that doesn’t know that Donald Trump was like, “You can grab them by the [expletive],” that doesn’t know about the civil suit. What people might not know is that he wants to fight to protect I.V.F. By your standard, you wish that I brought up the things that he had done?

To make the conversation feel more balanced.

OK, I don’t think that that’s unfair. I guess what I would say is, as an interviewer, am I bringing that up for the person that hates Trump so that they’re disarmed? And then, am I doing this interview for the audience, not for what I authentically want to ask him? There’s a part of me that wonders as you ask me this question: Do you feel like you have to put some pressure on me with the Trump thing because your audience might be like, Why didn’t you ask him about having Trump on? Or do you genuinely want to do it?

I think in this instance, it’s both.

And that’s an honest, fair question.

Read more of the interview here. And you can watch a longer version of this interview at youtube.com/@theinterview.

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Illustration by Christoph Niemann

Read this week’s magazine.

MEAL PLAN

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

In this week’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter, Margaux Laskey — who is supporting her daughter’s experimentation with vegetarianism — offers up five quick, kid-friendly vegetarian dinners. She suggests making crispy halloumi with tomatoes and white beans, sheet-pan bibimbap and sticky, spicy tempeh.

NOW TIME TO PLAY

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were checking and chickening.

Can you put eight historical events — including the first pay phone, the first opera, and the debut of “Star Trek” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times.

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Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

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