June 23, 2025.

In a timeline of Trump's decision to drop 12 of the reportedly 20 massive ordinance penetrator

bombs the U.S. military possessed on Iran, New York Times reporters confirmed what Josh Marshall of

Talking Points memo judged from the beginning. Trump wanted in on the optics of what seemed

to be Israel's successful strikes against Iran. Andrew Perez and Azouin Sub-Sang of Rolling Stone

reported conversations with administration officials who confirmed there was no new intelligence to suggest Iran was on the brink of producing nuclear weapons.

Mark Mazzetti, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmidt, and Helene Cooper reported yesterday in the New York Times

that Trump had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against striking Iran, but

changed his mind after seeing how Israel's military action was playing on television.

The reporters write, The president was closely monitoring Fox News, which was

airing wall-to-wall praise of Israel's military operation and featuring guests urging Mr. Trump

to get more involved. Trump began to hint he had been part of the operation and military

advisors began to draw plans for a strike.

According to the reporters, by June 17th,

three days after his military parade had fizzled

and more than five million Americans had turned out

to protest his administration,

Trump had decided to bomb Iran.

Rather than keeping the mission quiet, Trump issued increasingly aggressive social media posts appearing to hint at a strike. David E. Sanger of the New York Times

cited reports from Israeli intelligence saying that Iranian officials had removed 400 kilograms,

about 880 pounds, of enriched uranium from the Fordo

enrichment plant to another nuclear complex,

...