Headline Roundup • June 17th, 2025
Will the US Join Israel's Bombing of Iran?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A message President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday has some experts wondering if he is weighing whether to involve the US in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Current US Involvement: The US has increased its supply of weapons to the Middle East to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian missiles but has not directly intervened in the conflict. Trump wrote on Tuesday, “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” saying he does not want Iranian missiles shot at civilians or American soldiers. Wall Street Journal (Canter bias) wrote that the US military buildup in the Middle East “puts the U.S. on a firmer footing to join Israeli attacks on Iran,” even if the Pentagon says it is purely defensive for now.
Can the US Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Weapons?. One of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Fordow, is embedded within the Kūh-e Dāgh Ghū’ī mountain; Washington Examiner (Lean Right) reported that some experts warn the US does not have bombs that can destroy it.
Response from Congress: NPR (Lean Left) highlighted that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) co-sponsored a resolution on Tuesday that would prevent Trump from striking Iran without an explicit declaration of war and approval from Congress. “The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war,” Massie said.
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Featured Coverage of this Story
President Trump is considering a range of options, including a potential U.S. strike against Iran, and met with top advisers in the Situation Room at the White House on Tuesday, administration officials said. Trump earlier said on social media that the U.S. knew the location of the country’s leader but was choosing not to take any action, and then said, “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
The president left a G-7 summit in Canada early, saying he wasn’t doing so to work on a cease-fire in the dayslong conflict between Israel and Iran but for something “much bigger than...
Atta Kenare/AFP
President Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran on Tuesday, issuing a threat on social media against its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and taking credit for having "complete and total control of the skies over Iran."
"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump said in a post — one in a series of statements he made before meeting with his national security team in the White...
Maxar Technologies via AP
President Donald Trump is weighing whether to order the U.S. military to get directly involved in Israel’s war against Iran, though experts warn it is unclear if the United States’s most powerful bomb would be capable of destroying Iran’s most hardened nuclear enrichment facility.
The Defense Department has rushed additional weapons and personnel to the Middle East this week as Israel and Iran continue to exchange volleys of airstrikes and missile attacks. So far, U.S. forces have only aided Israel in defending itself from incoming Iranian-fired projectiles, though Israel is hoping for the U.S. to...
