Rambling Trump doubles down on claim nuclear sites were 'obliterated' - live

Donald Trump compared US military strikes on nuclear sites in Iran to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WW2.

Mr Trump praised the US mission and said it brought a growing conflict between Iran and Israel to an end before going on to make the comparison.

He added: "I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing — that ended a war.

"This ended [the Israel-Iran] war. If we didn’t take [out the nuclear facilities], they would be fighting right now."

Nato allies, including the UK, would not have agreed to raise defence spending to 5 per cent without Donald Trump in the White House, Mark Rutte said.

The commitment will see European Nato allies “equalise” with the US, the secretary-general said as he sat alongside Mr Trump at the Nato summit in The Hague, adding: “This would not have happened… I’m really saying this here, and some people might criticise me, but then when I speak with them they all say, ‘Yes, you’re right’.

“This would not have happened if you would not have been elected to 2016 and re-elected last year and back into office in January.”

A fuming Donald Trump has branded the media "scum" in a rambling tirade after arriving in the Netherlands for crunch NATO talks.

The US President laid into the media just hours after he dropped an expletive live on TV, saying Iran and Israel "don't know what the f*** they're doing" as both countries hammered each other with missile and air raid attacks.

Mr Trump arrived at the Hague, in the Netherlands, today and is expected to pressure NATO members to commit to his new interpretation of the post-WWII defensive alliance. The President recently cast doubt on Washington's commitment to NATO's Article 5 that states all member states will come to the defence of an ally if it is attacked.

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Donald Trump said he was "very proud" of Israel and Iran agreeing on a ceasefire deal.

Mr Trump made the comment during a NATO summit in the Hague, in the Netherlands, before adding the ceasefire was "very good."

The Republican leader also dismissed any nuclear threats from Iran, adding: "The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover. We won't let that happen."

Donald Trump praised what he called the "total obliteration" of Iranian nuclear sites.

The US President was asked about reports suggesting US strikes on the sites in Iran did not destroy the country's nuclear capabilities.

He added: "I believe it was total obliteration, I believe they didn't have a chance to get anything out because we acted fast. It's hard to remove that kind of material - very hard and very dangerous."

Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff slammed a US intelligence leak that hinted strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, branding it "outrageous."

Speaking to Fox News Mr Witkoff rubbished the leaked report, adding it was "unacceptable."

He continued: "It's treasonous and it ought to be investigated. Whoever did it, whoever is responsible, should be held accountable. It could hurt lives in the future.

"Leaking is a completely unacceptable thing."

A recent satellite image reportedly shows the Natanz nuclear site in Iran undergoing reconstruction.

The site was targeted in an American air raid over the weekend, although the image appears to show the beginning of reconstruction work at the site.

Images shared by the Aranico News Channel show the site reportedly undergoing reconstruction work.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has confirmed a briefing over Iran and Israel has been postponed.

In a post shared to X/Twitter, Mr Johnson said: "I have just confirmed with the White House that the classified bipartisan briefing for all House Members will now be held on Friday.

"Senior Administration officials will present the latest information pertaining to the situation involving Israel and Iran. Details to follow."

I have just confirmed with the White House that the classified bipartisan briefing for all House Members will now be held on Friday. Senior Administration officials will present the latest information pertaining to the situation involving Israel and Iran. Details to follow.

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) June 24, 2025

Iran has arrested 700 people it has accused of being Israeli mercenaries.

The country's state-aligned Fars News media said the hundreds arrested over the past 12 days were "Israeli mercenaries."

It also reported that 10,000 drones were seized by authorities in the country.

The outlet added: "Since the beginning of Israel's attack on Iran, the Zionist regime's spy network has been highly active in the country; Iranian intelligence and security forces managed to arrest more than 700 of them within 12 days."

The Israeli military said seven soldiers have been killed in southern Gaza.

It is the highest death toll for the Israeli military in Gaza in a single incident since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March.

President Donald Trump said his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was “wrong” when she previously said that the US believed Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon, and he suggested that it would be “very hard to stop” Israel's strikes on Iran in order to negotiate a possible ceasefire.

Trump has recently taken a more aggressive public stance toward Tehran as he's sought more time to weigh whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility. Buried under a mountain, the facility is believed to be out of the reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.

After landing in New Jersey for an evening fundraiser for his super political action committee, Trump was asked about Gabbard's comments to Congress in March that U.S. spy agencies believed that Iran wasn't working on nuclear warheads. The president responded, “Well then, my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?”

Informed that it had been Gabbard, Trump said, “She's wrong.”

Britons were warned they should prepare for a war on home soil as the National Security Strategy was unveiled yesterday.

The defence document said: "We have to prepare for the homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario."

Keir Starmer announced a £1billion deal to buy 12 nuclear-ready F35A jets from the US.

It came as Donald Trump launched an angry four-letter rant after Israel and Iran broke their ceasefire.

The world’s largest emerging markets — China, Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa — condemned the attacks on Iran, without naming Israel and the United States.

The group known, as the Brics nations, made no mention of the ceasefire, but called for a peaceful resolution and expressed “serious concern” about attacks on “peaceful” nuclear facilities. Iran and five other nations joined as members recently.

President Donald Trump veered from elated to indignant to triumphant as his fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together, teetered toward collapse and ultimately coalesced.

Trump, as he worked to seal the deal, publicly harangued the Israelis and Iranians with a level of pique that's notable even for a commander in chief who isn't shy about letting the world know what he thinks.

The effort was helped along as his aides and Qatari allies sensed an opening after what they saw as a half-hearted, face-saving measure by Tehran on Monday to retaliate against the US for strikes against three key nuclear sites. And it didn't hurt that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after 12 days of bombing, could tell the Israeli public that Iran's nuclear program had been diminished.

"This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will," Trump declared in a social media post announcing the ceasefire.

The US intelligence report suggests Iran’s nuclear programme has been set back only a few months after US strikes and was not "completely and fully obliterated" as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment.

The report issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency on Monday contradicts statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities. According to the people, the report found that while the Sunday strikes at the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites did significant damage, the facilities were not totally destroyed. The people were not authorised to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The US has held out hope of restarting negotiations with Iran to convince it to give up its nuclear programme entirely, but some experts fear that the US strikes — and the potential of Iran retaining some of its capabilities — could push Tehran toward developing a functioning weapon.

Local officials have said that several mini drones were intercepted and destroyed over the northern Iranian city of Rasht.

Gilan Province's deputy governor said the aerial targets were detected and brought down by the region's air defence systems earlier tonight, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

No injuries or damage have been reported.

Tonight, Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, signalled a willingness to return to the negotiating table over the country's nuclear programme.

According to an official readout from his office, in a phone call with UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Pezeshkian said Tehran remained committed to resolving disputes through diplomacy and "within international frameworks".

The statement suggested Iran is seeking to re-engage in talks following failed earlier diplomacy and recent attacks on its nuclear facilities.

Pezeshkian also urged Sheikh Mohammed to pass a message to Washington, stressing that Iran was "simply seeking its legitimate rights," and had "no demands beyond this."

He added: "Iran definitely has not and will not seek a nuclear weapon."

A new US intelligence report has found that Iran's nuclear programme has been set back only a few months after a US strike and was not "completely and fully obliterated" as Trump claimed, according to two people familiar with the early assessment.

The early intelligence report issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency on Monday contradicts statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities. The people were not authorised to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to the people, the report found that while the Saturday strikes at the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites did significant damage, they were not totally destroyed.

The White House strongly pushed back on the assessment, calling it "flat-out wrong."

The White House has criticised the publication of a leaked intelligence report that appears to downplay Donald Trump's bombing of Iran's nuclear sites.

According to a classified Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, the strikes ordered by the US president at the weekend only set back Tehran's nuclear programme by a few months.

The document appears to be in contrast with Trump's claims that Iran's nuclear facilities have been completely destroyed.

Also today, Trump insisted Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. But after the report was leaked by CNN, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back, saying it was "flat-out wrong" and describing it as a "clear attempt to demean President Trump."

She added: "Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration."

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Danny Danon told UN reporters that: "We will have to speak and negotiate and make sure that we will not repeat and get to the situation where we were 12 days ago, where we had a major threat in the Middle East."

While it's still too early to assess all the strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, he said: "We know we were able to push back the programme, we were able to remove the imminent threat that we had."

As for calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Danon said Israel hopes to renew negotiations on the ceasefire proposal that US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff put on the table.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Israel's war against Iran brought the country's nuclear programme "to ruin."

Speaking in a televised statement, he listed Israel's achievements in the war, including its attacks on top generals and nuclear scientists. He said Israel destroyed nuclear facilities in Natanz and Isfahan, along with the Arak heavy water reactor.

"For dozens of years, I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons and indeed ... we brought to ruin Iran’s nuclear programme," Netanyahu said.

Iran may turn to North Korea for advice in building nuclear weapons at a "secret" location unknown to US and Israeli intelligence, an expert has warned.

Azriel Bermant, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, said the West must be wary of "undeclared" nuclear facilities.

He urged the West not to rule out Iran's resolve to develop a nuclear weapon long-term and he even warned they could do so out of sight.

Mr Bermant said: "There is still a lot we don't know at the moment and I think we need to be modest and keep an open mind. The early signs, on the one hand, are that it does look like great damage has been done to Iran’s nuclear facilities."

More on the story here.

Here, you can see what Donald Trump's response was to Vladimir Putin's offer for help.

In a video address to the Israeli people, Benjamin Netanyahu said his country achieved a "historic victory" which "will stand for generations."

Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Trump's announcement of a ceasefire and said the fighting must stop.

"The people of the two countries have already suffered too much," he tweeted.

"It is my sincere hope that this ceasefire can be replicated in the other conflicts in the region."

I very much welcome President Trump’s announcement of a cease-fire between Israel and Iran.

I urge the two countries to respect it fully.

The fighting must stop.

The people of the two countries have already suffered too much.

It is my sincere hope that this ceasefire can…

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) June 24, 2025

The IDF has acknowledged a ceasefire with Iran and said "now the focus shifts back to Gaza."

Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said the Israeli military has "concluded a significant phase, but the campaign against Iran is not over."

He added: "We are entering a new phase based on the achievements of the current one. We’ve set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same applies to its missile programme."

After describing actions taken by the Israeli military as a "phenomenal achievement", he said: "Now the focus shifts back to Gaza – to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime."

Trump said he would like to see a deal with Russia - and revealed that Vladimir Putin offered to help him with Iran.

A journalist asked him: "If there's language in the final Summit declaration about aggression by Russia would you be ok with that kind of language?"

He replied: "Well, I'll have to take a look at it, but I'd like to see a deal with Russia. As you know Vladimir called me up, he said can I help you with Iran?

"I said I don't need help with Iran, I need help with you. And I hope we're going to be getting a deal done with Russia, it's a shame, 6,000 soldiers died last week, more, 6,500, last week, Russia-Ukraine, a war that never would have happened if I was President."

The US president was also asked to clarify what he meant when he mentioned a regime change in Iran in a post he shared on Truth Social a few days ago.

He said he doesn't necessarily wants a regime change in the country but wants to see "everything calm down as soon as possible."

"Regime change takes chaos," he added, "and ideally we don't want to see so much chaos."

After a journalist asked Trump whether Iran made any commitments yesterday about uranium enrichment, he said: "They're not gonna have enrichment and they're not gonna have a nuclear weapon."

He then said Iran will go on to become "a great trading nation" as he added: "They're very good traders."

He continued: "They have a lot of oil. They're going to do well."

Trump was asked if he was confident that similar incidents won't happen again.

He replied: "I think they don't want it to happen again and Iran's not gonna have a nuclear weapon by the way.

"I think it's the last thing on their mind right now."