After the Bombs: What Remains of Iran’s Nuclear Program?

It’s Monday, June 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: After Trump’s historic decision to strike Iran, what next?

On Sunday afternoon, seven B-2 bombers landed safely at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri after 37 hours in the air. A day earlier, they had been involved in one of the most consequential U.S. military operations of this century. In the skies above Iran, they dropped 14 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on three nuclear enrichment sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

With that action, the United States joined Israel’s war against Iran. In an address to the nation from the White House on Saturday night, flanked by his vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense, President Trump called the strikes a “spectacular success.”

In short, it has been a historic, enormously consequential weekend for America, for the Middle East, and for the world.

But if you tuned in to our livestream on Saturday night, or read our editorial Sunday, you already know that.

If you missed them, catch up with the livestream, which featured Bari, Haviv Rettig Gur, Mike Doran, Matthew Continetti, and other expert analysts. And read our editorial in support of Trump’s decision to hit Iran’s nuclear program:

This morning we bring you more coverage of the war, starting with maybe the most important question of all: What is the state of Iran’s nuclear program after the strikes? On Sunday, Pete Hegseth said the strikes had “obliterated” it. Jay Solomon’s reporting points to a dramatically different conclusion. Officials in Washington and Jerusalem, along with former IAEA officials, say that just before the U.S. struck Fordow, 16 cargo trucks entered the mountain complex and moved unidentified equipment to another location. What’s more, they believe Tehran has constructed other secret sites.

For more on Jay’s must-read story, tune in to our next livestream, at 11 a.m. ET today. Bari, Jay, and Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, will be talking about all the latest news on the war with Iran—including what remains of Iran’s nuclear program. Watch here, or on our homepage, at 11 a.m.

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So far, no one is bearing the cost of this war more than Israelis. What’s the view from Israel? Our Jerusalem correspondent Matti Friedman reports on the cautious optimism among Israelis and a nation that senses “a feeling of decisive change that we haven’t felt in this region for a very long time.”

Meanwhile, America is far from united behind the president’s decision to hit Iran’s nuclear sites. With a few exceptions, elected Democrats denounced the strikes. And many on the MAGA right are deeply skeptical of any U.S. intervention overseas—as is the conservative writer Michael Brendan Dougherty. In his essay for The Free Press, he cautions that the risks of escalation, retaliation, and mission creep are very real.

With the exception of a Sunday night post on Truth Social in which Trump declared “Make Iran Great Again!” there has been no serious discussion of regime change in Iran. But Israel and now America’s strikes have the regime in Tehran on its knees. If it collapses, what comes next? In his latest report, Eli Lake talks to Iranian opposition figures and Western analysts and walks through what might come after Khamenei: democracy? Military dictatorship? Or anarchy?

What is the view of ordinary Iranians? The Free Press’s Tanya Lukyanova spoke to one Tehran resident who said he feels “the same way the French felt on D-Day.” Watch her video report.

And for another personal perspective, we turn to Albert Eisenberg. His pacifist Quaker grandfather was killed by the Iranian regime in the Beirut Embassy bombing in 1983. As Albert puts it, justice has been a long time coming. Read his full essay.

—The Editors

Conversations with Coleman: Tim Urban on How to Be a Skeptic

When Coleman Hughes first stumbled across the Wait But Why blog nearly a decade ago, it felt like he’d found a corner of the internet that actually respected his intelligence, and challenged it. Tim Urban writes about human behavior, futurism, and society with depth and clarity—and the help of his signature stick figure illustrations—in a way that makes even the most abstract concepts seem urgent and human.

Tim has become one of the most original voices of our time. He is a thinker who isn’t afraid to take on messy, polarizing topics, and who refuses to sacrifice nuance at the altar of virality. That’s rare. And it’s why Coleman was so eager to get him on the podcast.

They talk about what it means to pursue truth in a time when everyone seems more interested in choosing sides, why so many smart people get swept up in dumb ideas, how social media hijacks our thinking, and what an actually productive political discourse might look like.

Press play below to listen to Coleman and Tim’s conversation, and be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

• Israel has recovered the bodies of three more hostages from Gaza: Yonatan Samerano, Ofra Keidar, and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson. The IDF says Levinson, 19, was killed in combat on October 7; Keidar, 71, was murdered at a kibbutz; and Samerano’s body was recovered on what would have been his 23rd birthday. Netanyahu vowed, “We will not rest until we return all of our abductees home—both the living and the dead.”

• A suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt inside the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, according to Syrian state media. Security forces have sealed off the area to evacuate the dead and wounded, though the number of casualties remains unknown.

• Nancy Pelosi raked in up to $42.5 million last year, outperforming every major hedge fund. Her and Paul’s fortune may now top $413 million, thanks to well-timed trades, including Microsoft and Visa sales ahead of federal probes and a bargain buy of 50,000 Nvidia shares.

• A sweltering heat wave, set to impact 170 million across the central and eastern U.S., will bring the year’s highest temperatures, intense sun, and dangerous humidity. AccuWeather warns the conditions could be life-threatening, with cities like Chicago facing their most intense heat wave in years.

• Two gardeners were reportedly taken into custody by ICE agents while mowing a lawn outside a California home, leaving their phones, keys, and running mower behind. “This is not the way we treat people,” said homeowner Christopher Ames.

• Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, rose to power promising to clean up Spanish politics. Now, his Socialist party (PSOE) is drowning in scandal—complete with prostitutes, rigged public contracts, kickbacks, a former nightclub bouncer, and even a porn star.