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The Trump administration’s successful surprise strikes on Iran on Saturday night were executed without issue after the National Security Council saw massive overhauls earlier in 2025, and the national security advisor was replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to fulfill an additional job role that critics said would likely end in failure.
President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Truth Social Saturday evening announcing the U.S. military carried out successful strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities as tensions and conflict heightened between Iran and Israel since June 12.
“A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan,” Trump said from the White House in an address to the nation just hours after the Truth Social announcement. “Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.”
By Monday evening, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Trump declaring the “12 Day War” was over following the U.S. strikes.
The operation, which was also praised by Pentagon brass as a total success, was executed after the Trump administration slashed the National Security Council and replaced former national security advisor Mike Waltz with Rubio, who currently serves four different roles within the administration.
Democratic lawmakers and former National Security Council staffers seethed against potential and finalized cuts to the council, alleging that Trump was politicizing and potentially crippling national security.
TRUMP TO MEET WITH SECURITY TEAM AFTER US CARRIED OUT ‘OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER’
