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What we know
- TRUMP WEIGHS OPTIONS: President Donald Trump said he was still considering a U.S. military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites. “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” he said, according to the White House.
- REACTOR AND HOSPITAL STRUCK: As the conflict entered its seventh day, Israel said it targeted Iran's Arak nuclear reactor and a nuclear weapons development site in Natanz overnight. It said it would "increase the intensity of attacks" after an Iranian missile directly hit a hospital in the southern part of the country. Iran said it was aiming for a nearby military complex.
- IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES TARGETED: Israel’s airstrikes have probably set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News, though they have not achieved the stated goal of eliminating the program entirely.
- SUPREME LEADER DEFIANT: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Trump’s call for his country’s surrender was “threatening and ridiculous” and warned that U.S. intervention would cause “irreparable damage.”
- HUNDREDS KILLED: Israeli strikes have killed at least 639 people in Iran during the weeklong conflict, The Associated Press reported, citing a Washington-based human rights group. Israel said its death toll remained at 24.
Israeli military says it's intercepting 'hundreds' of missiles
The Israeli air force and navy have intercepted hundreds of missiles launched toward the country, including more than 95% of those that were considered dangers to Israeli soil, Israeli military officials said.
Air force and navy units are "operating in close coordination with IDF aerial defense arrays, aircraft, missile ships, and other security personnel to defend the skies of the State of Israel around the clock," officials said in a statement.
In addition to the offensive to "degrade the Iranian regime’s firepower capabilities," IDF soldiers are helping with interception efforts. Specifically, soldiers are working to intercept surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs that have been fired toward Israel and target "population centers and are aimed at hitting Israeli civilians," the officials said.
Would Iran officials be willing to come to White House for talks?
Trump has said Iranian officials proposed possibly sending a delegation to the White House for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. But Iran has scoffed at the idea.
“No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,” Iran’s mission to the U.N. said on social media yesterday. “Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.”
It would be an extraordinary, groundbreaking step for any official from the Iranian regime to step foot in the White House.
The two governments have had no diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. monarchy, with no embassies operating in either capital. Iran has long called the United States “the Great Satan” and portrayed the Islamic Republic as an arch-foe fighting what it calls American imperialism.
In recent years, Iran has refused to engage in direct discussions with U.S. officials about its nuclear program and instead has insisted on indirect talks, with each government relaying messages through intermediaries.
In 2013, President Barack Obama held a 15-minute phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. It was the first direct conversation between the countries' leaders since the 1979 revolution. At the time, it was considered a breakthrough and a step toward potentially transforming the relationship between the two countries.
But Iran now faces its worst crisis since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, and it just might be willing to put aside its ideological hostility to America and even visit the White House if political leaders believed Tehran could secure an end to Israel’s relentless airstrikes and safeguard the survival of the regime, some experts said.
At the moment, there is no imminent prospect of Iranian officials’ paying a visit to the White House. U.S. officials always have the option of communicating with Iran’s U.N. mission in New York, through the Swiss government, which handles U.S. interests in Tehran, or through other foreign intermediaries.
Iran used combat drones to hit Israeli infrastructure
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used combat drones to hit Israeli infrastructure for the first time, it said in a statement reported by state-run media.
"This marks the first time Iranian combat drones have entered the occupied territories and carried out attacks on the Zionists using missiles and air-dropped bombs," the statement said.
Israeli airstrikes reach into the city of Rasht
Israeli airstrikes reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday, Iranian media reported as the conflict reached the one-week mark.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Israel was targeting in the city in Iran’s Gilan province.
Social media video posted online appeared to show explosions around the city.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported that local air defense systems were firing into the night sky against the Israelis.
Trump's special envoy to skip talks with Iran, U.K., France, Germany
The U.K., France and Germany will hold talks with Iran in Geneva tomorrow, but Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will not attend, White House officials said.
"This is a meeting between European leaders and Iran," a White House official said. "The president supports diplomatic efforts from our allies that could bring Iran closer to taking his deal."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier today confirmed that Witkoff's calendar does not include participation in the talks, in which Iranian officials and the foreign ministers of the U.K., France and Germany will discuss the escalation between Iran and Israel.
Leavitt said the United States has participated in direct "correspondence" with Iranian leadership that is ongoing.
"As you know, we were engaged with six rounds of negotiations with them, in both indirect and direct ways," she said, referring to talks over the country's nuclear program, talks Trump wanted to conclude with a handshake.
The talks were abandoned as Israel attacked Iran by air on June 13.
Israeli strikes continues, with focus on nuclear sites
The IDF is continuing to strike Iran, spokesperson Effie Defrin said at a news briefing today, pointing out the country's objective — "to eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel by degrading the nuclear program and significantly degrading the missile array."
Defrin said Israeli missiles have struck sites associated with Iran's nuclear weapons programs over the last 24 hours, including the nuclear reactor in the Arak region, adding that Tehran is still the main target. He also said the country's defense systems "are operating around the clock to intercept threats."
"Our strikes are directed at every part of the Iranian military establishment, all of which threaten the State of Israel," Defrin said. "We are continuing to dismantle the Iranian regime’s strategic capabilities and reduce the threat to Israeli civilians."
Defrin also claimed that Iranian forces "deliberately" targeted Soroka Medical Center, which Iranian officials have denied. The hospital is just a mile from an Israeli military compound.
Trump is relying on a small circle as he weighs strikes on Iran
Trump is increasingly relying on a small group of advisers for critical input as he weighs whether to order U.S. military action in Iran targeting its nuclear program, according to two defense officials and a senior administration official.
At the same time, another senior administration official said, Trump has been crowdsourcing with an array of allies outside the White House and in his administration about whether they think he should greenlight strikes in Iran — a question that has divided his core supporters.
Despite routinely asking a broader group of people what they think he should do, Trump tends to make many decisions with just a handful of administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the interim national security adviser, the senior administration official said. Trump also leans on his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, when he weighs decisions that fall under his portfolio, the official said.
As he decides whether to directly involve the United States in a war with Iran, Trump has expanded his circle in some ways while shrinking it in others.
He has sidelined National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who opposes U.S. strikes in Iran, and he has not been routinely turning to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as part of his decision-making process, according to the two defense officials and the senior administration official.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell denied that Trump was not consulting Hegseth, saying that the pair speak "multiple times a day each day" and that they were together in the Situation Room this week.
“Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump’s peace through strength agenda,” Parnell said.
Trump is listening to Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command; and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the two defense officials and a former administration official said.
In contrast to virtually every president before him since World War II, Trump does not rely on senior officials to carefully prepare foreign policy and military options and then discuss them with him in a structured, deliberate way, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Trump discusses foreign policy with officials in his administration, as well as a myriad of foreign leaders and contacts outside the government. But those discussions are more informal and freewheeling. As a result, there are arguably fewer opportunities for officials or senior military commanders to question his assumptions or to raise concerns about a course of action, the two sources said.
When Trump announced last month that he was lifting sanctions on Syria after he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, senior officials were taken by surprise, the two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Treasury Department officials had no warning that he would make such an announcement, and no technical preparations had been made to carry out a step that required discussions with foreign banks and Syrian government officials, the sources said.
Since he returned to the White House in January, Trump has drastically scaled back the National Security Council, which traditionally collaborates with other federal agencies to craft policy options and outline the possible consequences of those options, particularly when it comes to possible military action.
Trump says Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon, but U.S. intelligence says otherwise
NBC News White House correspondent Vaughn Hillyard and senior national security correspondent Courtney Kube and retired Lt. Gen. Steph Twitty join "Meet the Press NOW" to discuss the intelligence community’s assessment that Iran isn’t close to creating a nuclear weapon, despite Trump's saying it is a “few weeks away.” NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley reports on the ground from Tel Aviv.
Iranian missile hits hospital near an IDF intelligence building
After a missile launched from Iran hit the Soroka Medical Center in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba this morning, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard spokesperson told the semiofficial news agency Fars that the missile’s target was an IDF command and intelligence center that was “located near a hospital.”
NBC News has confirmed that the hospital is within a mile of an Israeli military intelligence compound that was operational as recently as last month.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that strikes had “eliminated an Israeli military command, control and intelligence HQ and another vital target” today. He said the blast caused “superficial damage” to a section of the “largely evacuated, Soroka Military Hospital."
The Soroka Medical Center is not a military hospital. It is a major public hospital that serves around 1 million people living in southern Israel.
The IDF spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the hospital was directly hit by a ballistic missile, and he accused Iran of deliberately targeting civilians. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it believes the hospital was targeted deliberately.
GOP senator says Trump will try to 'delay as long as he can'
A GOP senator told NBC News on the condition of anonymity today that he believes Trump "is going to delay as long as he can" in deciding whether to get involved in Iran.
The senator spoke before White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement from Trump that said he would make a decision about Iran in the next two weeks.
“I think Trump is trying not to make a decision for a while. He just wants to let Israel keep bombing and tearing up their country," the senator said.
The senator was also unsure whether "bunker buster" bombs would even be successful in Iran. Analysts have suggested that the United States could assist Israel by using such a weapon in targeting an Iranian nuclear facility deep underground.
“I don’t even know if the bunker busters will work. Will the bomb work?" the GOP senator asked. "Will it result in regime change? If it does, does that create a whole new host of problems? I don’t think Trump wants to get into that.”
Speaking about Netanyahu, the senator said, “I think Trump didn’t want him to be so aggressive, but once it was successful, Trump decided to get on the train.”
