11 days in June: Trump’s path to ‘yes’ on bombing Iran

Like most of Trump’s presidency, the path to military action was unconventional and played out on social media, as he alternatively pledged diplomacy, demanded the evacuation of Tehran, threatened the ayatollah and ultimately announced the U.S. strike.

Here’s a look at how the last 11 days unfolded, a cascade of events that could reshape a combustible corner of the globe. All dates below are in Eastern time.

Wednesday, June 11

The first sign that conflict could be on the horizon came when families of U.S. troops began leaving the Middle East. “They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said as he arrived at the Kennedy Center for opening night of “Les Misérables,” one of his favorite musicals.

It wasn’t clear whether Israel was preparing to strike, fulfilling years of threats to attack Iran’s nuclear program, or if the movements were a feint to increase pressure for negotiations. The next round of talks between Washington and Tehran was just days away, and Trump was adamant about reaching a diplomatic solution.

Behind the scenes, the Israeli military operation was already taking shape.

Trump said an attack by Israel “could very well happen.” But Iran still seemed to be taken by surprise. Around 8 p.m. in Washington, explosions in Tehran killed top military leaders and scientists. Multiple sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program were also hit.

Israel said 200 warplanes took part in the first wave of attacks. More damage was done with drones that Israeli spies had smuggled into the country, destroying air defenses and missile launchers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a “targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.” Although Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes, Israeli leaders claimed it was an imminent threat.

Iran retaliated against Israel with missiles and drones, many of which were shot down by air defenses. As Trump started his day in Washington, he seemed impressed by Israeli military prowess and his tone became more aggressive toward Iran.

“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 wrote on social media.

But Trump suggested that diplomacy was his first choice, and urged Iran to make a deal. “Now they have, perhaps, a second chance” to get it done, he said.

Trump talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the morning, and they discussed the conflict between Israel and Iran. The next round of talks between the U.S. and Iran was canceled.

The muscular display of American military might — tanks, troops, paratroopers and a 21-gun salute — played out in the nation’s capital as the potential for a new conflict loomed.

Sunday, June 15

Trump spent the day talking up his reputation as a peacemaker, encouraging Iran and Israel to “make a deal” similar to how he had brokered an end to fighting between India and Pakistan.

“Many calls and meetings now taking place,” Trump wrote on social media. “I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that’s OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!”

Iran’s health ministry said 224 people had been killed by Israeli strikes at this point in the conflict. Reports also emerged that Trump had rejected an Israeli plan to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. U.S. officials viewed the idea as dangerously destabilizing.

Trump flew to Canada for the annual Group of Seven summit, which gathers the world’s most powerful democracies. He would not be there long.

Monday, June 16

Israel claimed it had achieved “aerial superiority” over Tehran, allowing its warplanes to operate freely in the skies above Iran’s capital. One of the strikes hit Iran’s state-run television, abruptly stopping a live broadcast. Netanyahu said Israeli strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program a “very, very long time.”

However, the extent of the damage was unclear, and U.S. and Israeli officials believed only American planes with specially designed “bunker buster” bombs had the capability to destroy nuclear sites buried deep underground.

After a single day at the G7 summit, the White House abruptly announced that Trump would leave early on a red-eye flight to Washington to meet with his national security team.

Trump demanded Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” in a post on social media and he told reporters aboard Air Force One that he wanted “a real end” to the conflict, not just a ceasefire.

The sun had not yet risen when Trump arrived at the White House. He took part in a meeting in the Situation Room, but did not appear publicly.

With little clarity on next steps, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that “I’m here to take questions, not necessarily answer them.”

Wednesday, June 18

By this point, there was no question that Trump was considering joining Israel’s attacks on Iran. “I may do it, I may not do it,” he said that morning. “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”

The president spoke to reporters while overseeing the installation of a massive new flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House, toggling back and forth between chatting up construction workers in hard hats and sizing up the Iranian nuclear threat.

Later, in the Oval Office, Trump again suggested that the U.S. might get directly involved to thwart Iran’s atomic ambitions. “I’m not looking to fight,” he said. “But if it’s a choice between fighting and having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do.”

On Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers the Pentagon was presenting Trump with military options.

Thursday, June 19

It was a federal holiday — Juneteenth — and much of Washington took the hot, steamy day off, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt scheduled a briefing nonetheless.

She entered the briefing room to deliver a message from the president: He would decide within two weeks whether to become directly involved in Israel’s war on Iran.

Trump has long been known to toss out “two week” deadlines for actions that never materialize, so the statement left people guessing on his next move.

Friday, June 20

Trump convened another meeting of his national security advisers and then flew to his golf club in New Jersey, where he attended a political fundraiser in the evening. He talked to reporters briefly en route, long enough to say his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was “wrong” when she previously said that the U.S. believed Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon.

Saturday, June 21

Around midnight, the U.S. military operation began in secret: B-2 stealth bombers taking off from a base in Missouri. They headed east, over the Atlantic Ocean, refueling from airborne tankers along the way. It would take them 18 hours to reach Iran. A decoy flight went west, toward the Pacific.

Trump returned to the White House from New Jersey around 6 p.m. Less than an hour later, American ordinance began exploding in Tehran.

More than two dozen Tomahawk missiles were fired from a U.S. submarine. Fighter jets scanned for Iranian interceptors. The stealth bombers dropped 14 bunker buster bombs, marking the first time that the 30,000-pound weapon had been used in combat.

Trump announced the strikes on social media, saying it was a “very successful attack and “NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” In a brief national address from the White House, the president threatened to attack Iran again if there was any retaliation.

“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,” he said.