The world held its breath last night as American B-2 stealth bombers, like shadows across the moon, unloaded their payloads over Iran—Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan—three nuclear sites reduced to smoldering craters in an operation the White House dubbed Midnight Hammer.
President Donald Trump called it an “overwhelming success,” boasting that Iran’s nuclear ambitions had been “obliterated,” but in the ash-choked dawn, it was obvious that the fuse had been lit on a crisis with no clear end.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, was en route to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in a desperate bid for support.
“The United States has crossed a red line,” Araghchi seethed, his words dripping with the promise of retaliation. “We were at the negotiating table when they chose the sword. Now they will face everlasting consequences.”
Russia, ever the opportunist in global chaos, was already sharpening its knives.
Dmitry Medvedev, Putin’s pitbull and former president, declared Trump had “plunged America into another war,” ominously warned that unnamed nations stood ready to arm Tehran with nuclear warheads.
“The enrichment of uranium will continue,” Medvedev taunted on Telegram. “And when it does, Iran will have friends who can finish the job.”
Tehran denounced the US and Israel at an emergency UN Security Council meeting and voiced skepticism about the potential for diplomacy.
The world awaits an official response from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who designated three senior clerics as possible candidates to succeed him and named replacements for top military commanders in case they die in Israeli strikes.
Wary of assassination, Iran’s supreme leader mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications to make it harder to find him.
Meanwhile, the streets of Tel Aviv echoed with sirens as Iranian rockets rained down in retaliation. Israel, which had spent the last nine days pounding Iranian infrastructure, now found itself in the crosshairs of a regime with nothing left to lose.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ever the hawk, praised Trump’s “bold decision.”
Behind closed doors, the question loomed: How far will Iran go?
The international response was swift—and fractured. The EU scrambled to convene an emergency meeting, muttering about “threats to global security,” while France’s leftist factions condemned the strikes as “war crimes.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, France’s firebrand democratic socialist, accused Trump and Netanyahu of “playing with humanity’s survival,” while Paris quietly mobilized military transports to evacuate its citizens from Israel.
Back in Washington, the political knives were out. Trump never asked Congress for permission before striking Iran, despite the Constitution saying only the legislature can declare war.
Many Democrats and even some Republicans say that the attack was tantamount to a declaration of war and that Trump acted illegally.
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution assigns Congress dozens of powers like collecting taxes and creating post offices, as well as the power to “declare war” and to “raise and support armies.”
Demonstrators holding signs against the U.S. strikes against Iran flooded the streets in Washington outside the White House on Sunday.
Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie — two lawmakers whose views and priorities on most issues are typically very different — came together Sunday to decry Trump’s airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities as unconstitutional overreach.
Democrat Khanna slammed Trump for “dragging America into another Middle East quagmire.”
A semantic distinction lost on the civilians now bracing for escalation.
But most of the GOP stood firm. Senator Lindsey Graham hailed the strikes as “brilliant” and “necessary.”
Vice President CF Vance insisted that Trump had “clear authority to act to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” He did not indicate where the president gets such power, since the U.S. Constitution grants the sole power to declare war to Congress.
Several Trump aides say the limited action aimed solely at Iran’s nuclear capabilities does not meet the definition of war.
“This is not a war against Iran,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday.
And then there was the fallout—literal and political.
The IAEA confirmed no radiation leaks—yet—but Fordow’s tunnels, buried deep beneath a mountain, remained inaccessible, their secrets entombed in debris.
Satellite images showed the land scarred, the air thick with dust. Analysts whispered that while the damage was severe, Iran’s nuclear knowledge couldn’t be bombed away.
Now, the world watches. Will Tehran lash out at U.S. bases? Will Putin funnel advanced weapons to Iran, turning a regional conflict into a proxy war? And what of the Strait of Hormuz—the world’s oil lifeline—now a potential battleground?
One thing is certain: Trump’s Midnight Hammer didn’t end the crisis. It only shattered the illusion of control.
The next move is Iran’s, and the stakes are nothing less than the future of the Middle East—and perhaps the world.
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