Trump campaigned on the promise of ‘no more wars’ but the US is now embroiled in another Middle Eastern conflict – key US politics stories from Sunday 22 June
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of “no more wars” but global events have radically changed his views.
In what could be his most consequential day as president yet, Trump decided to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday in an operation he deemed “a spectacular military success”. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities, he boasted, have been “completely and totally obliterated.”
In a post to the Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump took it a step further by addressing the issue of regime change in Iran, applying his Maga rhetoric to the Middle East.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” he wrote.
Here are the key stories at a glance.
Saturday’s US strikes on Iran provoked conflicting reactions from isolationist Republicans who support Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” (Maga) movement, catching them – like many Democrats – between supporting efforts against nuclear proliferation and opposing American intervention in foreign conflicts.
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JD Vance has said the US is “not at war” with Iran – but is with its nuclear weapons program, holding out a position that the White House hopes to maintain over the coming days as the Iranian regime considers a retributive response to Saturday’s US strike on three of its nuclear installations.
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Donald Trump, a self-confessed risk-taker, has taken the greatest gamble – not just with his political reputation and the future of the Middle East, but arguably with the whole concept of military intervention as a way to solve intractable geopolitical problems.
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A Tennessee judge on Sunday ordered the release of Kilmar Ábrego García, whose mistaken deportation has become a flashpoint in Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But he is not expected to be allowed to go free.
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Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian rights activist, freed from Ice detention on Friday, returned to Columbia University on Sunday to renew his commitment to the cause of Palestinian freedom and opposition to both the university and the Trump administration.
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‘Ticking timebomb’: Ice detainee dies in transit as experts say more deaths likely
Republican representative’s ectopic pregnancy clashes with Florida abortion law
Gun-wielding attacker killed at church in suburban Detroit
Catching up? Here’s what happened 21 June.