The political climate in Washington will be dominated in the coming days by conflicting narratives over the series of US military strikes on three Iranian nuclear bases ordered by President Donald Trump on Saturday, which have heightened volatility in the Middle East.
While Trump’s cabinet praised the execution of a daring, precision bombing mission that began when a series of B-2 spirit bombers departed Missouri on a highly secretive 18-hour operation, Democratic politicians were, by Sunday, arguing that it ought to have been sanctioned by congressional approval.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Sunday morning that the details of the operation were “highly classified”, with very few in Washington aware of its imminent execution, but that members of Congress had been informed “immediately thereafter”, and that the administration had followed article II, section two of the US constitution, which gives the president authority to act as commander in chief against imminent threats. Noting that the strikes “did not target Iranian troops or Iranian people”, Hegseth maintained that Trump had arrived at the decision to order the strikes after growing disillusioned with the lack of progress in brokering a deal with Iran.
“For the entirety of this time in office, President Trump has consistently stated, for over 10 years, that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon. Full stop. Thanks to President Trump’s bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran’s nuclear programme and none could. Until president Trump,” he said.
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General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, vividly outlined the details of the operation on Sunday morning, describing a “large B-2 strike package” that left Missouri, composed of both decoys and the seven spirit bombers that successfully navigated their way to the three depots after an 18-hour flight, dropping 14 bombs on two of Iran’s primary nuclear targets and striking all three bases in a 25-minute period in the early hours, local time.
The startling US intervention represented a dramatic departure from Trump’s circumspect attitude to military aggression in the Middle East. In 2018, he withdrew from the US nuclear agreement brokered with Iran three years earlier by president Barack Obama. News of the bombings broke as a sweltering midsummer Saturday night conditions settled over large tracts of the United States, with confirmation that Trump would make a 10pm address from the White House.
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“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” he announced when he appeared at the podium.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” he said, adding, that “there will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days”.
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However, as the complex implications of the mission dominated the Sunday news agenda across the US, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries led a chorus in condemning the action, stating that while Trump had promised to bring peace to the Middle East, “he has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way.”
He called for Congress “to be fully and immediately briefed in a classified setting”. Congressman Jason Crow, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated he has “seen no intel” showing an imminent risk to US facilities or personnel, querying the legitimacy of acting without congressional approval. The most strident response came from New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who described the bombing mission as “a grave violation of the constitution and congressional war powers” through which Trump had “impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Irrespective of the brewing stand-off over constitutional procedure, the bombings add a new layer of uncertainty to the febrile atmosphere in the Middle East. Iran’s 86-year-old leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, already vulnerable after the assassinations of key military personnel following a series of Israeli strikes and reportedly picking potential successors from the bunker in which he is operating, faces the critical challenge of his three-decade leadership. For Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Trump’s bold intervention represents a startling victory in his decades-long campaign of pre-emptive disarmament of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
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There were unconfirmed reports on Sunday that Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin after stating publicly that the United States “holds sole and full responsibility for the consequences of its actions including the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to self defence”.
EU leaders made pleas for negotiations between Iran and Israel, while in Dublin Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris did not criticise or condemn the US strike in their respective comments on Sunday. Martin did not specifically refer to the bombing, but in a statement called on all parties to work to urgently “de-escalate the conflict between Iran and Israel” and reach a negotiated solution.
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