Washington — President Trump urged Iran on Friday to "make a deal, before there is nothing left" after Israel launched roughly 200 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, senior military leaders and research scientists, marking the opening attacks in what Israeli officials said is part of a major operation against Iran.
Iran launched barrages of missiles against targets in Israel in retaliation on Friday, and the U.S. helped Israel intercept the missiles, U.S. officials confirmed.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump urged Iran to agree to the new restrictions while it still can. The president has previously said Iran cannot be allowed to enrich uranium, a term Iran has not been willing to accept. Mr. Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, according to a White House official.
"There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end," Mr. Trump said in one post to his social media site, Truth Social, "Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."
The president said he had warned Iran about what would follow if it failed to reach a deal on its nuclear program.
I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it," he continued. "Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!
When the Wall Street Journal asked Mr. Trump on Friday morning if the U.S. was notified ahead of the attack, the president responded Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on. second Truth Social post Mr. Trump suggested that he would give Iran a "second chance" to agree to limits on its nuclear program after initially setting a 60-day deadline.
U.S. official says Iran "would be wise to negotiate"
State Department official McCoy Pitt said at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday that the U.S. was informed in advance about Israel's strikes but was not militarily involved in them, describing Israel's operation as "unilateral." Pitt said Iran has "repeatedly called for the eradication of the State of Israel" and added, "Every sovereign nation has the right to defend itself and Israel is no exception." He also noted that the Trump administration still seeks to pursue a "diplomatic resolution."
"Iran's leadership would be wise to negotiate at this time," Pitt said.
Steve Witkoff, the president's Middle East envoy, was set to hold a sixth round of talks with Iran in the Gulf state of Oman on Sunday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was not involved in Israel's airstrikes on Iran, but he delivered a warning to Tehran: "Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel."
In a video statement, Netanyahu dubbed the attack "Operation Rising Lion" and said it is a targeted military operation "to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival." Iranian state television said the head of its Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, were killed in the strikes.
Netanyahu said the assault "will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat."
Iran took its own retaliatory action on Friday, launching more than 100 drones In Israel, the Israeli military said. But Brigadier General Effie Defrin, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said the country's air defenses were "working to intercept the threats." Iran's supreme leader on Friday said Israel will not remain unscathed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his support for Israel on Friday morning, stating that the U.S. ally was "clearly within their right" to do what they did. set to address Israel's parliament, known as the Knesset, in Jerusalem on June 22.
"Israel and the United States have been united, including in our shared insistence that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon," Johnson wrote On X: "President Trump and his administration have worked tirelessly to ensure that outcome. Unfortunately, Iran has refused to agree and even declared yesterday its intent to build a new enrichment facility. Israel decided it needed to take action to defend itself. They were clearly within their right to do so. Iran will face grave consequences if it responds by unjustifiably targeting U.S. interests."
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Israel's strikes "an escalation that is deeply concerning and will inevitably invite counterattacks," and said the Trump administration "must quickly move to deescalate the situation."
"This risks not only U.S. negotiations with Iran, but the safety of American service members, diplomats, their families and ex-pats around the region," she said in a statement. "I agree with President Trump's instinct to distance the U.S. from Israel's actions, but Iran and its proxies are unlikely to differentiate the U.S. from Israel."
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