The Trump administration is expressing confidence that Saturday’s bombings of nuclear sites in Iran did the job of dismantling Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“This strike on Saturday did make our homeland safer because it took away Iran’s ability to create a nuclear bomb. This is a regime that threatens ‘death to America,’ and ‘death to Israel, and they no longer have the capability to build this nuclear weapon and threaten the world,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News on Monday morning.
President Trump late Sunday declared in a social media post: “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!”
As assessments of the damage done to the three sites — Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz — continue, the world awaits Iran’s response to the U.S. strikes.
“The timing, nature and the scale of Iran’s proportionate response will be decided by its armed forces,” Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi was in Moscow on Monday, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia said it is ready to aid Iran.
Against this backdrop, NATO leaders will meet in the Netherlands this week for the alliance’s annual summit. Trump will arrive Tuesday.
Back in D.C., Senate Republicans face a crucial stretch in moving Trump’s agenda forward, with the “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending bill expected to hit the floor by midweek. The Senate parliamentarian is assessing the legislation and approving, or in some cases knocking down, provisions that will allow it a fast-tracked vote.
In the House, the annual budgeting process begins, ahead of the fiscal year’s end on Sept. 30.
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