After President Donald Trump announced the U.S. had struck Iranian nuclear sites late Saturday, thoughts turned to whether American troops in the region are suddenly in increased danger.

On Sunday, officials from the Iran-backed Iraqi militant group Kataib Hezbollah said terrorists will resume offensives against American service members if there is any intervention by Washington in the Israel-Iran conflict, according to Reuters.

‘We are closely monitoring the movements of the American enemy’s army in the region. If America intervenes in the war, we will act directly against its interests and bases spread across the region without hesitation,’ a statement from Kataib Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said.

Geographically, American troops may be at risk based on their location.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters is located at Al Udeid Air Base, about 20 miles south of the Qatari capital of Doha. That major installation is only 300 miles from Iran.

Additionally, there are several U.S. military installations in Kuwait, which is close to the southern end of Iran, across a small piece of Iraq.

Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, is in the tiny country just across the Persian Gulf from Iran.

Additionally, a United Kingdom-owned island in the Indian Ocean — Diego Garcia — is a major U.S.-U.K. military installation about 2,300 miles south of Iran. While much farther away, that site is likely one of the most strategically-crucial bases in the southern hemisphere that also is key to Naval presence in the Mideast region.

Before the strike, Iran issued a clear message: Doing so will come with consequences. Iran has cautioned that the U.S. will suffer if it chooses to become involved in the conflict, and previously issued retaliatory strikes against bases where U.S. troops were housed after the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in 2020. 

‘The Americans should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,’ Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday, according to state media. 

The Pentagon has bolstered its forces in the Middle East in light of the growing tensions, including sending the aircraft carrier Nimitz from the South China Sea to join the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the Middle East. 

The U.S. currently has more than 40,000 U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians stationed in the Middle East. Here are some of the countries where U.S. military personnel are based and could face heightened threats:

Iraq 

Roughly 2,500 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Iraq as of September 2024, and are assigned to Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the Department of Defense. Their role in Iraq involves advising and supporting partner forces in the region to defeat ISIS. 

Following the 2020 U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, Iranian forces launched ballistic missile attacks at Erbil Air Base and Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, where U.S. troops are stationed. 

Jordan

About 350 U.S. troops are deployed to Jordan at a remote military base known as Tower 22, according to the Department of Defense. 

In January 2024, three soldiers were killed and another 40 were injured when a one-way uncrewed aerial system struck Tower 22. 

In May, ten New York Army National Guard soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for the injuries they suffered in the attack. The Pentagon blamed an Iranian-backed militia for the attack. 

Kuwait

The U.S. currently operates five bases in Kuwait: Camp Arifjan, Ali Al Salem Air Base, Camp Buehring, Camp Patriot and Camp Spearhead. 

As of January, approximately 13,500 U.S. troops are based there and primarily are focused on eliminating the threat of ISIS, according to the U.S. State Department. 

Qatar 

Qatar hosts U.S. Central Command’s forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base, home of the Air Force’s 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which Air Forces Central Command has dubbed the ‘largest and most diverse wing’ within the command. The wing includes airlift, aerial refueling intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and aeromedical evacuation assets, according to Air Forces Central Command. 

Bahrain 

Naval Forces Central Command is based out of Manama, Bahrain, where it spearheads a coalition of regional and international partners that are focused on supporting task forces targeting counterterrorism, counter-piracy and maritime security in the region. 

The Navy first established a base in Bahrain in 1971, which has hosted Naval Forces Central Command since 1983. 

United Arab Emirates

Just 20 miles south of the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi is Al Dhafra Air Base, home of the Air Force’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. 

The wing includes unmanned aircraft including the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a remotely piloted surveillance aircraft. 

Potential misdirection likely served a key role in the Trump administration’s successful strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday evening, which were abruptly announced by President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post just days after he said his decision on Iran would unfold within the next two weeks. 

‘We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,’ Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday evening. ‘All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.’

Trump’s surprise announcement came with no media leaks ahead of time, and followed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announcing on Thursday during a press briefing that Trump would make a decision on potentially striking Iran within a two-week time period as opposed to an imminent decision. 

‘I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing on Thursday, quoting Trump.

Ahead of the strikes on Saturday evening, six B-2 stealth bombers from an Air Force base in Missouri appeared to be en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News on Saturday. 

Fox New’s Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin said during an appearance Saturday evening as news broke of the strikes that reports of the bombers were likely part of the ‘misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had had put off the decision.’

‘Those six B-2 bombers that were heading west towards Guam, they would not have made it to Iran in time to take part in this strike. So, that suggests to me that there was an additional B-1 package that perhaps flew eastward from Whiteman Air Force Base. Again, this was all part of the deception. There was a great deal of sort of misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had put off the decision and that this would happen two weeks from now.’ She said this while speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Saturday evening. 

‘But as we knew, there were other indications, and we did not report earlier this week, even though we knew that Whiteman Air Force Base had put out a notice suggesting that the base was closed for so-called repairs until Monday, June 23. Now, if you look at the timeframe of where we are right now, those B-2s would be home at Whiteman by the time that notice and that would be lifted on Monday, June 23. So, that was put out a week ago, and so we should have had some clue that this might have been some indication of the time frame,’ Griffin added. 

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson added on Saturday:’Everyone woke up this morning to chatter about these six B-2 bombers flying West over the Pacific, refueling over Hawaii at about 11pm.But it’s clear now that those were decoys and that another flight of B-2s flew east, likely three of them.’

Trump said in his Truth Social post he will address the nation at 10 p.m. ET to provide details on the strikes. 

‘I will be giving an Address to the Nation at 10:00 P.M., at the White House, regarding our very successful military operation in Iran. This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!’

Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on Iran on June 12 after months of attempted and stalled nuclear negotiations and subsequent heightened concern that Iran was advancing its nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared soon afterward that the strikes were necessary to ‘roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

He added that if Israel had not acted, ‘Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.’ 

Dubbed ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ the strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed a handful of senior Iranian military leaders.

Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program before striking its nuclear facilities, but the country pulled out of ongoing talks with the U.S. scheduled for June 15 in Oman and refused to return to the table in the days following. 

‘Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign,’ Trump posted to Truth Social Monday evening, when he abruptly left an ongoing G-7 summit in Canada to better focus on the Israel–Iran conflict. ‘What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!’ 

The U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites following President Donald Trump’s order on Saturday, and he’s expected to address the nation at 10 p.m. Eastern. The strike is the result of over a decade of the president saying that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. 

‘IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR,’ Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday night.

‘We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ he said in another post. 

Despite previous media reporting that the Trump administration was open to allowing Iran to continue its uranium enrichment program, potentially allowing the development of Iranian nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump has taken a strong stance on the issue, repeatedly saying he would not allow the country to develop any nuclear weapons.

Axios reported earlier this month that as part of a deal to ease U.S. sanctions offered to Iran by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, ‘would allow limited low-level uranium enrichment on Iranian soil for a to-be-determined period of time.’ This was something the outlet said risked backlash from Trump allies on Capitol Hill and in Israel.

Shortly after the Axios story, Trump posted on Truth Social that ‘under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!’

The AP reported that Trump’s message ‘appeared to undercut a proposal that was offered’ by his administration and that Witkoff and the president ‘have repeatedly offered inconsistent public messages about whether Iran would be allowed to retain the capacity to enrich uranium to lower levels for civilian purposes.’

Trump, however, has consistently said that he would not, under any circumstances, allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Dating back to 2011, Trump has gone on the record voicing his belief that Iran should not have access to nuclear weapons over three dozen times.

As early as his 2011 book ‘Time to Get Tough,’ Trump said: ‘America’s primary goal with Iran must be to destroy its nuclear ambitions. Let me put them as plainly as I know how: Iran’s nuclear program must be stopped by any and all means necessary. Period. We cannot allow this radical regime to acquire a nuclear weapon that they will either use or hand off to terrorists.’

He has also made clear his stance that Iran should not even be allowed to further develop nuclear arms, saying in a 2011 tweet that ‘Iran’s nuclear program must be stopped – by any and all means necessary.’

Then, after announcing his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump criticized President Barack Obama for negotiating ‘a disastrous deal with Iran,’ saying, ‘Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and, under a Trump Administration, will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.’

Then again, in 2017, Trump was quoted by NPR saying, ‘We will deny the regime all paths to a nuclear weapon.’

On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump said repeatedly that nuclear ramping up is ‘the biggest risk we have.’ In an interview with Patrick Bet-David ‘the real threat isn’t global warming. The real threat is — threat is nuclear warming.’  

Referring to Iran, he said, ‘They’re very close to having a nuclear weapon,’ and ‘I wanted Iran to be very successful. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.’

He also criticized former President Joe Biden, saying he ‘should never have allowed them to get this far. They’re way — they’re way advanced now.’

While campaigning, Trump was recorded at least 34 times saying Iran should have no way of developing nuclear weapons, a Fox News Digital review of video shows.

‘They can’t have a nuclear weapon. And now, they’re very close to having one, and it’s very dangerous for the world, very dangerous for the world. I mean, the biggest — the biggest problem today, in my opinion, the biggest risk is the nuclear weapons, the weaponry. It’s so powerful today,’ he said in a campaign rally in Milwaukee in October.

‘They’re financing Hamas, and they’re financing Hezbollah … they go around, saying, ‘Death to Israel. Death to America.’ And they chant it openly all over the place. Don’t let Iran have nuclear weapons. That’s my only thing I have to tell you today. Don’t let them have it,’ he said at a campaign event in Clive, Iowa.

Iran has repeatedly said it will not agree to a uranium enrichment ban, arguing it has the right to the process, which is also vital for nuclear energy. 

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump addressed the nation just after 10 p.m. Eastern Time following the U.S. military’s successful strikes on a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities. 

‘A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan,’ he said. ‘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.’ 

‘For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America. Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs,’ Trump continued. ‘That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular.’

Trump reported that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been ‘obliterated’ and that the country has been backed into a corner and ‘must now make peace.’

‘Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,’ Trump said. ‘And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.’ 

Trump’s address followed him announcing just Thursday, via his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, that he would make a decision on whether to strike Iran within a two-week period. 

‘I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Leavitt said at a White House briefing quoting Trump.

Trump had repeatedly urged Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program before striking its nuclear facilities, but the country pulled out of ongoing talks with the U.S. scheduled for June 15 in Oman and refused to return to the table in the days following. Israel preemptively ordered strikes on Iran June 12 as Israeli intelligence indicated Iran’s nuclear program was rapidly progressing. 

Trump went on to congratulate the U.S. military for carrying out the successful attack, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for working with the U.S. during the operation. 

‘I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team, like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades,’ he said. 

Trump warned Iran that ‘there will be either peace or there will be tragedy’ for the country following the strikes. 

‘Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There’s never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago,’ Trump said. 

The president previewed that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine will hold a press conference on the strikes at 8 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday. 

‘I want to just thank everybody. And in particular, God, I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and God bless America,’ he said before ending his address. 

Trump announced Saturday evening via a Truth Social post, which was not preceded by media leaks, that the U.S. had carried out three successful attacks. 

Fox News’ Sean Hannity reported Saturday that the U.S. used six bunker-buster bombs — each of which weighed 15 tons — in its strikes on Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. The bombs were dropped from American B-2 stealth bombers. 

Additionally, 30 tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. submarines were used in the attacks on the Nanatz and Isfahan facilities, he reported. 

Ahead of the Saturday evening strikes, six B-2 stealth bombers from an Air Force base in Missouri appeared to be en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News Saturday. 

Reports of the bombers were likely part of the ‘misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had had put off the decision,’ Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin said during an appearance Saturday evening as news broke of the strikes. 

‘Those six B-2 bombers that were heading west toward Guam, they would not have made it to Iran in time to take part in this strike,’ she said while speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier Saturday evening. ‘So, that suggests to me that there was an additional B-1 package that perhaps flew eastward from Whiteman Air Force Base. Again, this was all part of the deception. There was a great deal of sort of misleading tidbits put out there to suggest that maybe President Trump had put off the decision and that this would happen two weeks from now.’

Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on Iran June 12 after months of attempted and stalled nuclear negotiations and subsequent heightened concern that Iran was advancing its nuclear program. Netanyahu declared soon afterward that the strikes were necessary to ‘roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

He added that if Israel had not acted, ‘Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.’ 

Dubbed ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ the strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed a handful of senior Iranian military leaders.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report. 

Co-sponsors of the War Powers Resolution, Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., were quick to criticize President Donald Trump for greenlighting attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran Saturday night. 

‘This is not constitutional,’ Massie said, responding to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in Iran. 

The bipartisan War Powers Resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives this week as strikes between Israel and Iran raged on, and the world stood by to see if Trump would strike. 

Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., were briefed on the strikes ahead of time. 

‘Trump struck Iran without any authorization of Congress. We need to immediately return to DC and vote on @RepThomasMassie and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war,’ Khanna said. 

This week, lawmakers sounded off on the unconstitutionality of Trump striking Iran without congressional approval. Congress has the sole power to declare war under Article I of the Constitution. 

The War Powers Resolution seeks to ‘remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic State of Iran’ and directs Trump to ‘terminate’ the deployment of American troops against Iran without an ‘authorized declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military forces against Iran.’

As Trump announced his strikes against Iran – without congressional approval – Khanna said representatives should return to Capitol Hill to prevent further escalation.

And in the upper chamber, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced his own war powers resolution ahead of the bipartisan duo in the House. While the resolution had been gaining steam with his colleagues, momentum could be stalled due to the strikes. His resolution is privileged, meaning that lawmakers will have to consider it. The earliest it could be voted on is Friday.

Kaine argued in a statement that ‘the American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the U.S. waging war on Iran.’

‘And the Israeli Foreign Minister admitted yesterday that Israeli bombing had set the Iranian nuclear program back ‘at least 2 or 3 years,” he said. ‘So, what made Trump recklessly decide to rush and bomb today? Horrible judgment. I will push for all senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.’

This week on Capitol Hill, Massie, the conservative fiscal hawk who refused to sign onto Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ built an unlikely bipartisan coalition of lawmakers resisting the U.S.’ involvement in the Middle East conflict. 

‘This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution,’ Massie said. 

Massie, whom Trump threatened to primary during the House GOP megabill negotiations, invited ‘all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution.’ By Tuesday night, the bipartisan bill had picked up 27 cosponsors, including progressive ‘Squad’ members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

Across the political aisle, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., signaled her support, writing that Americans want an affordable cost of living, safe communities and quality education ‘not going into another foreign war.’

‘This is not our fight,’ Greene doubled down on Saturday night, before Trump’s Truth Social announcement. 

The bill’s original co-sponsors also include progressive Democrat Reps.Pramila Jayapal, Summer Lee, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, who called it unconstitutional for ‘Trump to go to war without a vote in Congress.’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump would make his decision about whether to bomb Iran within two weeks. 

‘We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ Trump said Saturday night. 

Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leaders last week, which the Islamic Republic considered a ‘declaration of war.’ Strikes between Israel and Iran have raged on since, as Trump said he was considering whether to sign off on U.S. strikes against Iran. 

The Jewish State targeted Iran’s nuclear capabilities after months of failed negotiations in the region and heightened concern over Iran developing nuclear weapons. 

But Ali Bahreini, Iran’s ambassador to Geneva, said Iran ‘will continue to produce the enriched uranium as far as we need for peaceful purposes,’ as Israel, and now the U.S., have issued strikes against Iran’s nuclear capabilities. 

The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday said it had killed an Iranian commander who for years helped arm and fund Hamas on behalf of the regime. 

Saeed Izadi, commander of the Palestine Corps in the Quds Force, was killed early Saturday during an Israeli strike in the city of Qom. 

Izadi was also ‘one of the orchestrators’ of the Oct. 7, 2023, unprovoked Hamas attack on Israel, according to BBC News. 

‘The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands,’ IDF chief Eyal Zamir said in a statement, calling it a ‘tremendous intelligence and operational achievement.’

Following the killing of Mohammed Sinwar, the head of Hamas’ armed wing, at a hospital in Gaza in May, a joint operation between the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) discovered an underground command center underneath the hospital.

Israeli troops found documents in the command center revealing that Hamas’ military wing had maintained contact with Izadi in recent months, including Sinwar. 

Correspondence between Sinwar and Izadi planning an operation in which Izadi would arm Hamas with $21 million in weapons followed by an additional $25 million in weapons was found in the command center, the IDF said. 

‘Due to the intensive efforts of the Southern Command, the Intelligence Directorate and the ISA, these two projects to arm Hamas’s military wing in the Gaza Strip with advanced weapons worth tens of millions of dollars did not come to fruition,’ the IDF said. 

Izadi had been sanctioned by the U.S. and U.K. over his ties to the Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also helped plan the Oct. 7 terror attacks. 

The IDF said later Saturday that it also had killed a second Iranian commander, Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle in Tehran.

Shariyari had been ‘responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East,’ including missiles and rockets launched by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis at Israel, the IDF said. 

‘Since the outbreak of the war, the IDF has been working to dismantle the military capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization. The IDF will continue to act against any attempt by the Iranian regime to arm and fund the terrorist organizations that threaten the State of Israel and its civilians,’ the IDF said. ‘The elimination of Izadi constitutes a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s weapons supply and terror financing network.’

Amid a week of daily attacks between Middle Eastern juggernauts Israel and Iran, President Donald Trump has repeatedly drilled home a key point.

‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,’ the president wrote on social media.

And speaking with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Trump highlighted, ‘I’ve been saying for 20 years, maybe longer, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.’

It’s a stance U.S. presidents have taken for a couple of decades. And it appears most Americans agree with Trump and his presidential predecessors when it comes to the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of registered voters questioned in a new Fox News national survey said they think Iran poses a real security threat to the U.S. That’s a 13-point boost since Fox News last asked the question six years ago.

And the poll, conducted June 13-16, indicates wide support across the partisan spectrum. Majorities of Republicans (82%), Democrats (69%) and Independents (62%) agreed that Iran poses a threat.

The survey also showed that 78% of those questioned said they were very or extremely concerned about Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb. And eight in 10 said what happens in the Middle East does matter in the U.S.

Daron Shaw, a veteran GOP pollster and the Republican partner on the Fox News poll, said that ‘the increased sense that Iran constitutes a threat is real, but it also reflects the unique timing and circumstances surrounding this poll.’

‘The poll was in the field as images of Iranian missiles falling on Tel Aviv dominated television and the internet — the immediacy and clarity of the conflict undoubtedly contributes to how voters gauge what is at risk,’ noted Shaw, who is also a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas.

There was a similar response regarding the threat from Iran in a Ronald Reagan Institute national survey conducted earlier this month, before Israel’s initial attack last week sparked the daily bombardments by both nations.

Eighty-four percent of those questioned in the poll, which was shared first with Fox News, said preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons matters to U.S. security and prosperity. 

Trump is weighing whether the U.S. should join Israel in striking Iran to cripple its nuclear program and prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

‘President Trump doesn’t often get a political softball sent his way. His decision to support Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran and the prospective decision to deal a limited but decisive blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions by striking the Fordow facility can prove to be political mana from heaven,’ veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance said. 

Lesperance, president of New England College, noted that ‘If the President makes the case clearly and firmly to the American people, polling data suggests he would enjoy support from his own party, Democrats and Independents. What’s more, Trump’s decision and subsequent action would crowd out any of the issues or coverage like immigration, the budget, or tariffs in the near term. Politically, a decision to act against Iran is smart politics.’

But Lesperance cautioned that ‘this all assumes that the attacks are successful. It also assumes Americans are tolerant of the repercussions of backlash over the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.’

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As tensions between Israel and Iran escalate, the airwaves are full of alarmist commentary. Military analysts and political leaders alike are warning that Tehran is ‘on the brink’ of possessing a nuclear weapon. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt even claimed, ‘Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon … and it would take a couple weeks to complete the production of that weapon.’ This is not just a misstatement. It is misinformation—and it risks pushing the United States into a hasty and unjustified war.

The reality is far more complex. Enriched uranium—even at weapons-grade levels—is only one component of a long, technically demanding process required to create a functional nuclear bomb. Understanding why this alarmism is premature requires a clear breakdown of what’s actually involved in building such a device.

According to U.S. experts and declassified intelligence assessments, a nuclear weapon requires at least the following elements:

1. Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU): Iran would need U-235 enriched to 90%, but that alone is insufficient.
2. Precision Shaping: The uranium must be machined into a flawless sphere, requiring high-end metallurgy and computing.
3. Explosive Lenses: Carefully placed charges must detonate simultaneously to compress the core—a method called implosion.
4. Trigger Mechanisms: These detonators must be precisely synchronized; even a microsecond delay renders the weapon ineffective.
5. Reflectors and Tampers: Elements like beryllium are required to maintain compression and sustain the chain reaction.
6. Weaponization: The bomb must be ruggedized into a functional assembly, including casing and electronics that can survive delivery.
7. Delivery Systems: The weapon must be fitted onto a missile, aircraft, or another platform capable of reaching its target.

In addition to enriched uranium and implosion mechanisms, a functional nuclear weapon requires several other complex components that Iran has not demonstrably mastered. These include a neutron initiator to trigger the chain reaction, precision fusing and arming systems, and reentry vehicle technology if the weapon is to be missile-delivered. A credible nuclear arsenal also demands sub-critical testing infrastructure to validate design functionality and safety protocols to control explosive yield. These technical requirements involve advanced engineering, testing, and materials—none of which are confirmed to exist in Iran’s program today.

Each of these steps represents a serious technological challenge. While Iran has demonstrated enrichment capabilities, there is no credible open-source evidence that it has mastered the other essential components. The most difficult hurdle—weaponization—remains the most classified and technically advanced part of the entire process.

Yet Israel’s recent week of strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities—including the deeply buried Fordow enrichment site near Qom—were reportedly driven by fears that Iran had crossed the 90% enrichment threshold. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Iran now possesses enough enriched uranium for ‘nine nuclear weapons’ and the IDF’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned of an ‘immediate operational necessity’ as Iran had ‘reached the point of no return.’ However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and U.S. intelligence assessments have not publicly corroborated any progress toward assembling a usable bomb.

The Fordow facility, often portrayed as a doomsday site, is not a weapons lab. It is an enrichment plant—too deep to strike easily, but also too constrained to test, assemble, or launch a nuclear weapon. That fact alone should prompt the question: Why strike now?

Netanyahu’s warnings are not new. In 2012, he told NBC’s Meet the Press that Iran would have enough material for a bomb in ‘six or seven months,’ urging the U.S. to draw a ‘red line’ before it was ‘too late.’ The dire prediction never materialized. No bomb was built. No red line crossed. The episode offers a lesson in how worst-case scenarios, not verified facts, can drive the conversation.

Before the United States commits to military action, President Trump—and the American people—deserve clear answers: Does Iran possess the necessary components, the design knowledge, and the capacity to assemble and deliver a functioning weapon? Or are we risking war based on fear and incomplete intelligence?

We have been here before. In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. That war cost thousands of lives, almost three trillion dollars to the present, destabilized a region, and damaged U.S. credibility for decades. To repeat such a mistake would be strategic malpractice of the highest order.

None of this downplays the threat Iran poses. The regime’s support for proxy militias, its ballistic missile program, and its pattern of obstructing IAEA inspections are deeply troubling. But deterrence and diplomacy—not preemptive war—must be the first response. The United States retains a full suite of tools: cyber operations, regional missile defense, economic sanctions, and multilateral diplomacy. Military action should remain the final option—not the opening move.

As Australian novelist Kate Forsyth reminds us: ‘War is an unpredictable beast. Once unleashed, it runs like a rabid dog, ravening friend or foe alike.’ Let us not unleash that beast over uranium that is dangerous—but not yet detonatable.

President Trump, Congress, and our intelligence community must deliver a full, honest accounting. What does the United States know—not suspect—about Iran’s nuclear readiness? What pieces are still missing? What tools short of war can ensure they stay missing?

These are the questions that must be answered before another missile is fired. Panic is not a policy. Precision is.

Recent arrests of Chinese nationals at the University of Michigan have resurrected concerns about CCP-owned farmland and property in the United States, particularly in Michigan, and caused some to draw parallels with the current conflict between Iran and Israel. 

Earlier this month, two Chinese nationals were charged with allegedly smuggling a ‘dangerous biological pathogen’ into the U.S. to study at the University of Michigan in an incident that FBI Director Kash Patel described as a ‘sobering reminder that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate our institutions and target our food supply, an act that could cripple our economy and endanger American lives.’

Later, a third Chinese national with connections to the university was arrested, renewing questions about China’s efforts to infiltrate and influence various sectors in the United States, including buying up farmland, which has been a growing concern nationwide.

A 2023 report from the United States Department of Agriculture found that ‘foreign persons held an interest in nearly 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land,’ which represents 3.5% of all privately held agricultural land and 2% of all land in the country.

While China is not at the top of the list of countries in that report, the arrests in Michigan have prompted calls from Congress to ensure that the CCP, viewed by many as the nation’s top geopolitical adversary, is not buying up farmland in the United States.

Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts exclusively told Fox News Digital this week that China has been aggressively buying American agriculture, ‘which is why we need to have a heightened sense of vigilance around protecting our homeland.’

Ricketts, along with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, introduced the bipartisan Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act that seeks to implement recommendations published by the Government Accountability Office in January 2024, which found the AFIDA was ill-equipped to combat foreign ownership of American agricultural land. 

‘China’s land purchases aren’t just about acreage—they’re about access,’ Michigan GOP Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the CCP, told Fox News Digital. 

‘Even small parcels near military bases or critical infrastructure pose serious national security risks. In my home state, we’ve seen concerning cases like Gotion’s site near Camp Grayling. We need full transparency into who’s buying land and where—because the Chinese Communist Party shouldn’t be allowed to hide behind shell companies to gain a foothold in our country.’

China’s encroachment into Michigan’s agriculture was enough of a concern for Republican state Rep. Gina Johnsen to introduce legislation earlier this year banning foreign adversaries from buying up farmland.

‘Our state’s agricultural industry is a pillar of our economy. My community is an agricultural community,’ Johnsen said. Our farms provide food security, jobs, and economic stability for countless residents. However, there is growing concern about losing our farmland to countries of concern.’ 

Additionally, Chinese farmland has become a topic of conversation in the wake of revelations that Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear capabilities was aided by years of covert planning, surveillance and infiltration by Israeli intelligence. 

Code-named ‘Am Kelavi’ (Rising Lion), the preemptive operation was the product of unprecedented coordination between the Israeli air force, the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Mossad and the country’s defense industries. For years, they worked ‘shoulder to shoulder’ to gather the intelligence files needed to eliminate Iran’s most sensitive military and nuclear assets.

As part of that operation, Israel was able to establish a drone base inside Iran, where Mossad operatives retrieved them from hiding spots to use against Iranian sites. 

Bryan Cunningham, president of Liberty Defense and former CIA intelligence officer, told Fox News Digital that the Israeli operation is a ‘wake-up call’ for the United States about what a foreign adversary like China could potentially carry out in the United States.

‘As an intelligence officer, part of me says, I wish that the sources and methods of building these drone factories inside the target countries hadn’t been revealed,’ Cunningham said. ‘But on the other hand, it does serve as a wake-up call, hopefully for our policymakers, and it also ties in, and if I were the administration, I would make this tie in immediately and loudly with the Trump administration’s border strategy.’

Cunningham continued, ‘Our borders are where you’re most likely to actually intercept these kinds of toxins, explosives, flares, 3D-printed weapons, ceramic weapons, whatever it is. So if it were me and I were the Secretary of Homeland Security, I would be tying this all together. You know, it is important to get people out of the country that have committed violent or other serious crimes in the country, but it’s also really important to prevent people like these guys from bringing in those kinds of materials.’

The FBI is increasing its surveillance of Iranian-backed operatives inside the United States as Trump weighs strikes, a senior law enforcement official told Fox News on Friday. 

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey, Lucas Tomlinson and Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.

Several provisions in the Senate GOP’s version of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ have run afoul of Senate rules and must be stripped if Republicans want to pass the package without the help of Democrats.

The bill is undergoing what’s called a ‘Byrd Bath,’ when the parliamentarian meticulously combs through each section of the mammoth bill to determine whether policies comport with the Senate’s Byrd Rule.

The point of the budget reconciliation process is to skirt the Senate filibuster and pass a massive, partisan legislative package. But if provisions are left in that fail the test, Senate Republicans will have to meet the typical 60-vote threshold. Provisions that don’t pass muster can still be appealed, however.

Senate Democrats vowed to use the Byrd Bath as a cudgel against the Senate GOP to inflict as much pain as possible and slow momentum as Republicans rush to put the colossal bill on Trump’s desk by July 4. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could also overrule the parliamentarian but has remained adamant he would not attempt such a move. 

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough scrutinized three chunks of the megabill from the Senate Banking, Environment and Public Works and Armed Services committees and found numerous policies that failed to meet the Byrd Rule’s requirements.

Among those was a provision that would have eliminated funding for a target of the GOP’s since its inception in 2008, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would have effectively eliminated the agency. Doing so also would have slashed $6.4 billion in spending.

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said in a statement he would ‘remain committed to cutting wasteful spending at the CFPB and will continue working with the Senate parliamentarian on the Committee’s provisions.’

Attempts to put guardrails on the $150 billion in Defense Department funding baked into the package also failed to pass muster. The language would have required that Pentagon officials outline how the money would be spent by a certain deadline or see the funding reduced.

Other provisions on the chopping block include language that cut $300 million from the Financial Research Fund and cut jobs and move the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board under the umbrella of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which would have saved roughly $773 million.

An attempt to change the pay schedule for Federal Reserve employees was also nixed, which would have saved about $1.4 billion.

Environmental standards and regulations set by the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act were also determined to have run afoul of the Byrd Rule, including a repeal of tailpipe emissions standards for vehicles with a model year of 2027 and later.