US knew about Israel’s coming strike on Iran, told Americans to leave region

“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb,” Trump told Baier. “We are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership in Iran that will not be coming back.” This comes after the US began pulling nonessential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth allowed the "voluntary departure" of the families of military members from US bases across the Middle East.

Trump added that the goal remains diplomacy, but Iran’s behavior during recent talks had increasingly frustrated US officials, particularly Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.

“There was this building frustration about what Iran was doing at the negotiating table,” Baier reported. “Trump’s team had already reached out to a key Middle Eastern beforehand to acknowledge this strike was going to happen, but that the US was not involved in the strike.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched a massive strike on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure late Thursday, targeting what Jerusalem described as "imminent existential threats." The operation, codenamed "Operation Rising Lion" (Hebrew: AM KALAVIE), comes after months of Tehran dragging out nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.

The US military remains on high alert, according to the Pentagon, with CENTCOM monitoring the region closely and the Iron Dome missile defense system recently replenished in Israel. Trump emphasized that the US will help defend Israel "if needed," though he reiterated that the strike was carried out unilaterally by Israel, Baier said.

Earlier on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement that said, “Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the operation targeted key nuclear scientists and the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program. “We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb. We also struck the heart of Iran's ballistic missile program. Our fight is not with the people of Iran, our fight is with Iran’s dictatorship.”

An IDF spokesperson described the operation as a direct response to increasingly alarming intelligence about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We recognize that Iran is racing toward a nuclear bomb,” the IDF statement read. “If we do not act now, we will know less every day… They have thousands of ballistic missiles — an existential threat in themselves — and are arming proxies with the intent to destroy Israel.”

The IDF said the strikes were “focused and precise” and intended to disrupt both the nuclear program and long-range missile capabilities of the Iranian regime.

Following the operation, a state of emergency has been declared across Israel, with the nation preparing in case of an expected Iranian response.

The strike followed nearly a year of escalations between Iran and Israel, including an Iranian ballistic missile strike on October 1, 2024, and a retaliatory Israeli strike on October 26 targeting missile storage and military sites. Iran gave the go-ahead for its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah to launch the Oct 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel that began the Israel-Hamas War.

US-Iran negotiations, mediated by Oman and held in Muscat and Rome, hit a wall over uranium enrichment levels. The US shifted from advocating a 3.67% enrichment cap to demanding Iran eliminate its entire enrichment program — a demand Iran called “non-negotiable.”

Iranian state television reported that the Natanz uranium enrichment facility — a major site in Iran’s nuclear program — was hit multiple times, with live footage showing smoke billowing from the area. Natanz, which has both above- and below-ground facilities, has been previously targeted in cyberattacks and sabotage operations attributed to Israel.

Iran also confirmed the deaths of senior nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, as well as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami, one of the most powerful military leaders in the country. Additional reports suggest that the chief of Iran’s military, Mohammad Bagheri, and other senior IRGC officials were also killed.

Axios journalist Barak Ravid reported that Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, conducted parallel covert sabotage operations against Iranian air defenses and missile facilities in support of the wider military campaign.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF had built “exceptional capabilities” in both intelligence and strike operations. “Iran is more determined than ever to realize its vision of destroying Israel. We are at a critical juncture… We have dealt with proxies. Now we are dealing with the head of the snake.”

President Trump has scheduled a meeting of the National Security Council for Friday at 11 am local time to assess the situation. Netanyahu publicly thanked Trump. “Time and again, he made it clear: Iran must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons,” said Netanyahu. “I thank him for his consistent support of our country throughout all the years of his presidency.”

In a message directed to the Iranian people, Netanyahu said, “We do not hate you. You are not our enemies. We have a common enemy: a tyrannical regime that tramples you… I have no doubt that your day of liberation from this tyranny is closer than ever.” Netanyahu framed the operation as not only defending Israel but the entire Middle East and “the free world.”

“Hard days lie ahead — but also great days,” he concluded. “What we do today will be etched into the annals of Israel and of all nations as a struggle for the triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness.”