Misdirection and 'deception' likely key in Trump admin’s surprise Iran strike

President Donald Trump announces successful U.S. military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities after previously indicating he would decide on action within two weeks

U.S. strikes three sites in Iran (Fox News)

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."

TRUMP FACES CRITICAL DECISION AS MIDDLE EAST TEETERS ON BRINK OF WAR

"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. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 22, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)  (Getty Images)

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.

ISRAEL LAUNCHES SWEEPING STRIKE ON IRAN WHILE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SEEKS DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION

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. 

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"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!" 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/misdirection-deception-likely-key-trump-admins-surprise-iran-strike