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Days 8 to 12, June 20 to 24, 2025: America Joins the War, Then Calls It Off

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED. The American strike, Iran's answer at Al Udeid, and the ceasefire announcement are all on the public record in the President's own posts, the Pentagon briefing, and wire reporting.

In the last five days, the war stopped being Israel's alone. The United States bombed Iran, Iran fired at a U.S. base, and the President announced the war was over, all within 72 hours. This page gives the day-by-day order; each event has a deeper page linked below.

June 20 (Day 8): "weeks to months," and talks in Geneva​

  • DNI Tulsi Gabbard, three days after Trump said he did not care what she had told Congress, posted: "The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree" (Gabbard on X, June 20, 2025). The same day a reporter asked Trump, "Your Intelligence Community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point." Trump: "Well then my Intelligence Community is wrong" (FactCheck.org). See Gabbard's Reversal.
  • Araghchi met European negotiators in Geneva; the talks "foundered on the gap between Iran's offer to return to the Obama era 'Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action' agreement level of 3.67% enrichment, and the Western demand for zero enrichment" (as summarized in an essay captured in this investigation's research, "Why gas prices will stay high in 2026").
  • Overnight, the IDF said it struck missile production sites, the headquarters of SPND (Iran's nuclear weapons research organization) and a Tehran nuclear research center, and destroyed 35 missile launchers (Wikipedia).
  • Iranian missiles hit Haifa and the Negev Advanced Technologies Park near Beersheba. "The United Kingdom has evacuated their Embassy in Tehran, and the United States continues to maneuver substantial resources into the Middle East. Maersk has announced that they are suspending all operations in the port city of Haifa" (S2 Underground, June 20, 2025). The same analyst noted that "Israeli Special Forces are able to operate on the ground within Iran, in many cases with impunity."

June 21–22 (Days 9–10): Operation Midnight Hammer​

At 6:40 p.m. Washington time on Saturday, June 21 (2:10 a.m. in Tehran on June 22), the first of seven American B-2 bombers dropped two 30,000-pound bunker-busters on Fordow. An American submarine had already fired more than two dozen Tomahawks at Isfahan about an hour earlier. The strike window closed at 7:05 p.m. (AP via PBS; NYT). Iranian observers logged "2:38 AM – Explosion at Fordow... 2:41 AM – Loud blast reported at Isfahan's Atomic Energy Facility. 2:46 AM – Explosion heard at Natanz Nuclear Facility. 2:55 AM – Widespread GPS jamming observed across Iran" (@kashmiricanibal).

Israel knew in advance. Congress mostly did not. The public learned it from one post. The full account, including the letter to Congress that cited the "collective self-defense of Israel," is on The June 22 Strikes.

On June 22 Iran's parliament voted to back closing the Strait of Hormuz (CNBC); the IRGC fired its 20th wave of Operation True Promise III, 40 missiles, including, it said, the first use of "Heybarshekan ballistic missiles with multiple warheads" (as listed by Sprinter Press); Chile, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Qatar condemned the American strike (same post); and Yemen's Houthis called it "a declaration of war" (The Chronologist). Iran's Foreign Ministry said the US attack "showed that they were also involved in planning Israel's initial attack on Iran" (as posted by The Ukrainian Review).

June 23 (Day 11): Evin, Fordow again, Al Udeid, and "THE 12 DAY WAR"​

  • Israel struck Tehran's Evin prison; Iran's judiciary said at least 71 people were killed there. See The Evin Prison Strike.
  • "BREAKING: Israel has launched new strikes on Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, Iranian media reports" (Insider Paper, June 23, 2025). ISW mapped "Israeli Strikes Near the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant – June 23, 2025" (ISW).
  • Iran's parliament approved the outline of a bill suspending cooperation with IAEA inspectors (Wikipedia mirror).
  • At about 16:30 GMT Iran fired missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American base in the Middle East, after warning in advance. See Al Udeid, June 23.
  • At 6:02 p.m. Eastern, Trump posted: "It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE." He named it "THE 12 DAY WAR" (Truth Social, as copied by @TruthTrumpPosts). Araghchi answered that there was "NO 'agreement'" (Araghchi on X).

June 24 (Day 12): the last missiles and "DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS"​

"A few minutes after this announcement, Israeli forces sortied to carry out one of the largest bombing attacks they have conducted, after the ceasefire was announced, but before the ceasefire took effect," then explosions at Evin and around Tehran at 0110 GMT (S2 Underground, June 24, 2025). Iran fired six salvos before its 4 a.m. deadline; one killed four people in Beersheba (Times of Israel). Israel prepared a large retaliation. Trump posted "ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS," phoned Netanyahu, and Israel hit one radar site instead (Times of Israel liveblog, June 24). Before leaving for the NATO summit, Trump said the two countries "don't know what the f— they're doing" (The Conversation). The hour-by-hour record is on The Final Night, Hour by Hour.

The victory speeches followed. Netanyahu: "We rose like a lion, and our roar shook Tehran. This war will be studied in all the armies of the world. We destroyed the critical facilities in Arak, Natanz, and Isfahan" (Al Jazeera). Pezeshkian called the end of the war a "total victory" (same). Israel lifted its civilian emergency guidelines (RT). The General Secretariat of Iran's Supreme National Security Council warned that "American and zionist bases, from West Asia to deep inside the occupied territories, have all become potential targets" (@SuppressedNws).

Status: Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, Tulsi Gabbard, Abbas Araghchi and Masoud Pezeshkian are alive, as far as these sources show.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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