Will He, Won't He
Plus: Iran strikes an Israeli hospital, Social Security and Medicare are still running out of money, Trump erects a giant flagpole, and more…
President Donald Trump continues to toy with the idea of going to war with Iran. "I may do it, I may not do it," he told reporters at the White House Wednesday in response to a question about whether the U.S. would strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Wall Street Journal reports that on Tuesday the president finalized an attack plan for Iran but has yet to make a final decision on whether to go through with it. Administration officials say they're considering a range of options, per the Journal's reporting.
Get your morning news roundup from Liz Wolfe and Reason.
In his White House remarks, Trump put the blame for the conflict on Iran's failure to come to an agreement on its nuclear program, saying, "All this death and destruction. Why didn't you negotiate with me? You would have done fine. You would have had a country."
Iran and its allies have promised to target American military personnel and civilians wherever they can if the U.S. does enter the war.
"If they decide to be engaged militarily, direct military involvement in this massacre, definitely we will do whatever necessary to protect ourselves," said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi to CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have been staging anti-American demonstrations. The leader of one of the largest Iranian-backed groups said that they would attack American civilians and military personnel if Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is assassinated (something Trump threatened to do earlier this week).
The Secretary General of Al-Nujaba, one of Iraq's most powerful Iranian-backed armed groups, threatens to target every American in the region - civilian or military - and strike US bases in Iraq if Iran's Supreme Leader is assassinated by Israel or Washington. pic.twitter.com/Dj0z76z37o
— Lawk Ghafuri (@LawkGhafuri) June 19, 2025
There are some 40,000 active duty U.S. military personnel stationed in the Middle East that could be targeted by Iranian attacks. American officials told The New York Times that Iran had prepared missiles and other military equipment for strikes on U.S. bases in the region.
Israeli hospital hit. An Iranian missile hit Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Israel, on Thursday morning. The hospital, the largest in southern Israel, said on social media that the strike had caused "extensive damage."
Elsewhere, Iranian munitions fell on several residential areas near Tel Aviv, reports The Washington Post, resulting in 40 people being injured, including two people seriously injured.
Missile hit a street in Ramat Gan (geo above roughly exact)
Heavy damage to shops, homes, and an apartment building. pic.twitter.com/58Xmp706IU
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 19, 2025
Earlier today, Israel bombed Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, part of the country's nuclear program.
A Washington-based human rights group reports that 639 people in Iran have been killed by Israeli strikes and another 1,300 have been wounded, reports CBS. Another 24 Israelis have been killed by Iranian missile and drone attacks.
"We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on social media, per a Google translation, in response to the Soroka strike.
הבוקר, רודני הטרור של איראן שיגרו טילים לעבר בית החולים סורוקה בבאר שבע ולעבר אוכלוסייה אזרחית במרכז הארץ.
נגבה את מלוא המחיר מהרודנים בטהרן.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 19, 2025
After the recent Iranian strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Khamenei, Iran's leader, "absolutely should not continue to exist."
Running out of money. The Social Security program is eight years away from insolvency, according to the latest annual report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare.
The trustees' report says that Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance fund will be able to pay 100 percent of benefits through 2033, after which it will only have enough income to pay 77 percent of benefits.
"Social Security is barreling towards insolvency. If policymakers fail to act, they will effectively be supporting a 23 percent across-the-board benefit cut for all retirees in just eight years," said the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) in their analysis of the report.
The CRFB analysis says that the long-term outlook for Social Security is worsening, thanks to the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act last year. That law allows retired public sector employees—who'd been excluded from Social Security benefits and Social Security taxes by virtue of having a state- or local-funded pension—to receive Social Security benefits.
Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which pays for inpatient hospital care for Medicare beneficiaries, is likewise scheduled to be insolvent in eight years. The program would only be able to pay 89 percent of benefits come 2033, according to the latest trustee report.
Scenes from D.C.: Workers erected two giant 88-foot-tall flag poles on the White House's north and south lawns yesterday. Previously, the White House had sported a smaller flag on the roof. President Donald Trump visited with the workers putting up the flag and chatted with reporters about whether he'd start a war with Iran.
Two new flagpoles now rise at the White House — proud, unwavering, and free. This isn't just a symbol; it's the American story — written in sacrifice, stitched with courage, and raised for all the world to see.
???????? One nation. Under God. Forever proud. pic.twitter.com/TaCTuF9NON
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 19, 2025
QUICK LINKS
- National Review's Michael Brendan Dougherty on three "red flag" arguments for the U.S. joining Israel's war with Iran.
- The Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh on how U.S. intervention in Iran could create the largest refugee crisis since World War II.
- Doug Bandow on whether Trump will abandon an "America First" foreign policy by attacking Iran.
- Reason's Matthew Petti on how a war with Iran would not be a quick, simple affair.
- A Washington Post survey finds only 25 percent of respondents favor a U.S. strike on Iran.
