As joint U.S.-Israeli military operations continued against Iranian targets, Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle relayed statements from senior administration officials who described intelligence assessments behind President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate strikes and outlined claims that Tehran had resumed efforts to rebuild its nuclear weapons program.
Boyle posted the following statements on X:
“1. NEW: Senior administration official told reporters on WH press call just now that there were indications and analysis that the Iranians were planning to preemptively strike U.S. bases (as they’ve done after the U.S. and Israeli strikes) and instead the president decided to go first. The analysis, this official said, showed that letting the Iranians go first would have led to serious U.S. casualties. Worth noting CENTCOM has separately said there have been no U.S. casualties in the Iranian response now so it appears the president’s calculations were correct in this regard at least.
- Senior admin official also stressed to reporters that the Iranians were in fact actively rebuilding their nuclear weapons program after Midnight Hammer successfully destroyed it last year. Plenty of other details as well on efforts by the Iranians to eventually acquire a nuclear weapon presented as well on background just now from several senior admin officials.”
The administration’s explanation followed President Donald Trump’s early-morning announcement that “The United States Military began major combat operations in Iran.” Trump said the strikes were launched to eliminate “imminent threats from the Iranian regime, which “directly endangers the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.” He also stated that the operation would “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” and was intended to prevent Iranian nuclear-tipped long-range missiles from threatening the American homeland or U.S. allies.
According to reporting on the operation, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), American and partner forces began striking targets at 1:15 a.m. ET, focusing on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command and control facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields. CENTCOM described the effort as the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation and said the first hours included precision munitions launched from air, land, and sea.
U.S. officials cited by Fox News reported that Iran’s air defense systems were effectively suppressed during the initial wave of strikes through a multi-geographic command-and-control strategy designed to overwhelm defenses. The U.S. military also deployed Tomahawk missiles and low-cost one-way attack drones, marking the first combat use of that drone capability.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region. Iranian state media claimed that 14 U.S. bases were hit, though the full accounting has not been confirmed by the United States. Smoke and explosions were reported near the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Manama, Bahrain. A U.S. official confirmed that no U.S. casualties were reported at the naval installation, though Bahraini authorities acknowledged damage to residential buildings and ongoing firefighting and rescue operations. Multiple Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, reported attempted or successful interceptions of Iranian attacks.
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