 |
| By The Free Press |
It’s Monday, June 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: After Trump’s historic decision to strike Iran, what next?
On Sunday afternoon, seven B-2 bombers landed safely at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri after 37 hours in the air. A day earlier, they had been involved in one of the most consequential U.S. military operations of this century. In the skies above Iran, they dropped 14 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on three nuclear enrichment sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
With that action, the United States joined Israel’s war against Iran. In an address to the nation from the White House on Saturday night, flanked by his vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, President Trump called the strikes a “spectacular success.”
In short, it has been a historic, enormously consequential weekend for America, for the Middle East, and for the world.
But if you tuned in to our livestream on Saturday night, or read our editorial Sunday, you already know that.
If you missed them, catch up with the livestream, which featured Bari, Haviv Rettig Gur, Mike Doran, Matthew Continetti, and other expert analysts. And read our editorial in support of Trump’s decision to hit Iran’s nuclear program:
This morning we bring you more coverage of the war, starting with maybe the most important question of all: What is the state of Iran’s nuclear program after the strikes? On Sunday, Pete Hegseth said the strikes had “obliterated” it. Jay Solomon’s reporting points to a dramatically different conclusion. Officials in Washington and Jerusalem, along with former IAEA officials, say that just before the U.S. struck Fordow, 16 cargo trucks entered the mountain complex and moved unidentified equipment to another location. What’s more, they believe Tehran has constructed other secret sites.
 |
For more on Jay’s must-read story, tune in to our next livestream, at 11 a.m. ET today. Bari, Jay, and Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, will be talking about all the latest news on the war with Iran—including what remains of Iran’s nuclear program. Watch here, or on our homepage, at 11 a.m.
This livestream is available to paying subscribers only. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, click below to become one.
|
So far, no one is bearing the cost of this war more than Israelis. What’s the view from Israel? Our Jerusalem correspondent Matti Friedman reports on the cautious optimism among Israelis and a nation that senses “a feeling of decisive change that we haven’t felt in this region for a very long time.”
Meanwhile, America is far from united behind the president’s decision to hit Iran’s nuclear sites. With a few exceptions, elected Democrats denounced the strikes. And many on the MAGA right are deeply skeptical of any U.S. intervention overseas—as is the conservative writer Michael Brendan Dougherty. In his essay for The Free Press, he cautions that the risks of escalation, retaliation, and mission creep are very real.
With the exception of a Sunday night post on Truth Social in which Trump declared “Make Iran Great Again!” there has been no serious discussion of regime change in Iran. But Israel and now America’s strikes have the regime in Tehran on its knees. If it collapses, what comes next? In his latest report, Eli Lake talks to Iranian opposition figures and Western analysts and walks through what might come after Khamenei: democracy? Military dictatorship? Or anarchy?
What is the view of ordinary Iranians? The Free Press’s Tanya Lukyanova spoke to one Tehran resident who said he feels “the same way the French felt on D-Day.” Watch her video report.
And for another personal perspective, we turn to Albert Eisenberg. His pacifist Quaker grandfather was killed by the Iranian regime in the Beirut Embassy bombing in 1983. As Albert puts it, justice has been a long time coming. Read his full essay.