The US President Donald Trump has already approved a plan for a possible attack on Iran. But he is delaying it to see if Iran gives up its nuclear program. Despite this, the US officials expect an attack in the coming days.
Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal write about this.
Washington is preparing the infrastructure for direct intervention in the conflict with Tehran. The leadership of several federal agencies has also begun preparations for a possible attack. However, officials who spoke to reporters note that the situation is still evolving and could change.
One possible target for the US is the well-protected uranium enrichment facility at Fordow. It is located under a mountain range, so only the most powerful bombs can destroy it. When asked last whether he had made a decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump replied: “I may or may not do it.”
He also repeated his demand for Iran’s unconditional surrender: “The next week will be decisive. And it could be less than a week.” A White House official said that “all options remain on the table”.
According to Axios, one of the key questions Trump is currently concerned about is whether the US would actually destroy Iranʼs most fortified nuclear facility at Fordow if it joins Israel in a war with Iran. Trumpʼs doubts about this are one of the reasons he is still considering attacking Iran.
According to the US officials, Trump wants to make sure that such an attack is really necessary and will not drag the US into a protracted war in the Middle East. And, most importantly, that it will really destroy Iranʼs nuclear program. The US president specifically asked his military advisers whether they would be able to destroy the Fordow plant, and they assured him that they would. However, it is not known whether this convinced Trump.
For years, Trump has advocated for US non-interference in foreign conflicts and built his campaign on promises to prevent another world war and focus on domestic affairs.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says his country remains “committed to diplomacy” and “has never sought and will never seek to possess nuclear weapons”. At the same time, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened an “inevitable response” if the United States decides to intervene in the conflict.
The foreign ministers of Great Britain, France, and Germany plan to hold talks with their Iranian counterparts on June 20 in Geneva.
Whatʼs happening in the Middle East?
On the night of June 13, Israel attacked the center of Iranʼs nuclear, missile, and military infrastructure. After that, Iran declared that it would not participate in negotiations with the United States on its nuclear program, scheduled for June 15. On the evening of June 13, Iran responded by attacking Israel with ballistic missiles.
Already on June 14, Israel reported that it had gained air superiority from Western Iran to Tehran.
As of June 17, the countries continue to exchange blows — previously, in the Israeli city of Bat Yam, where an Iranian missile hit a house on June 14, five Ukrainians were killed. Among them were three children.
Israel has already asked the Administration of the US President Donald Trump to join the war with Iran to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.
Iranʼs nuclear program
The Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015 by the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and the EU. They agreed that the Iranian authorities would give up their nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Iran nuclear deal and launched a "maximum pressure" campaign: new sanctions against the Iranian regime in order to obtain significant concessions from it.
Tehran resumed uranium production after Trump pulled out of the deal. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Iran’s nuclear program has “advanced significantly,” Axios noted.
The Biden administration has been conducting indirect talks with Iran to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts collapsed in late 2022 when the United States accused Iran of making “unfounded” demands related to an International Atomic Energy Agency investigation into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the months that followed, the Trump administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “off the table”.
After being re-elected for a second term, Trump renewed his “maximum pressure” campaign. In March, Axios reported that the US president had given Iran two months to reach a new nuclear deal.
On June 12, 2025, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Iran, for the first time in almost 20 years, of failing to meet its obligations regarding international nuclear safeguards.
Earlier, on May 31, the Agency reported that Iran had almost doubled its stockpile of 60% enriched uranium since February. This brings it closer to the level of almost 90% needed for nuclear weapons. It now has about 408 kilograms of such uranium — enough to make nine nuclear bombs if the country continues to enrich uranium.
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