Evening Edition: President Trump Weighs US Involvement in Iran
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Get started at Venta.com. I'm Kat Timpf. I'm Bill Hemmer. I'm Harris Faulkner. And this is the Fox News Rundown. Tuesday, June 17th, 2025. I'm John Saucier. Israel's been scoring some major gains against Iran in what is now but five days of strikes against the Islamic Republic with a goal of destroying their nuclear program. This, of course, is a big task, but they've got a big helper, the U.S. military.

So far, American military assets have been used to help defend Israel from Iranian ballistic missile strikes, but the world's holding its breath and wondering whether President Donald Trump might up the ante and go on the offensive against Iran. This is the Fox News Rundown, Evening Edition. ♪

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said from day one of this military offensive against Iran that their operation will last as long as it takes. With the goal of ending Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Trump administration holding multiple round of talks with the Iranians, which seem to have gone nowhere. Now here we are with Israel and Iran trading blows, but it seems like things aren't going very well for Iran in this impromptu war. Well, Israel...

now dominates the skies over Iran. They've opened up those air routes and they've used this to conduct a very precise campaign against military targets, especially Iran's nuclear capabilities, top leadership and air defenses. Our guest today is Dr. Rebecca Grant, vice president at the Lexington Institute and national security expert.

The aim here is to end Iran's nuclear menace, and it's proving again that air power, manned fighters are really the way to get this done. It really is crazy how quickly Israel was able to work and the fact they were able to get fighter jets into Iranian airspace and pull this all off. But...

Is Israel going to be able to completely destroy Iran's nuclear facilities or do they need the United States help to destroy any remnants of an idea that Iran might be able to develop a nuclear weapon?

Israel's done a great job, but Iran's nuclear facilities are so sprawling and complex. I think the big concern right now is on the deeply buried underground site at Fort Al. We know Israel has done a lot to destroy some of the above ground facilities and, of course, hitting nuclear scientists who actually work on the programs and taking down the air defenses so that they can look at all these targets.

But how much have they really completely eliminated Iran's nuclear capability? I think we don't know that yet. And there's certainly a tactical case to be made for enlisting some help from the United States military. Is that because the United States has these so-called bunker-busting bombs that Israel may not have? I've heard a lot about these, especially where they're going after that nuclear facility you mentioned that's deeply buried.

There are actually a couple of different bunker busters. One, which is a 5,000-pound weapon, could theoretically be carried by some of Israel's modified F-15s. But the really big one, of course, is that GBU-57, the massive ordnance penetrator carried

only by the US stealth bomber, the B-2. The idea there is to drop this massive penetrator that goes through layers and layers of earth and concrete and can detonate and destroy the machinery in Iran's underground nuclear sites.

I think that's what we're all thinking may need to happen if the objective is to really completely smash Iran's nuclear capability. Well, we know that the United States was helping Israel shoot down some of the Iranian ballistic missiles that were being shot towards Iran. What's your assessment on Iran's response? Have they been able to hurt Israel? We know that they were getting some of the missiles into some of the population zones. What's your assessment of Iranian response?

A few missiles have gone through, but overall, Iran's response is really not effective. It looks to me like Israel is getting higher than a 90 percent destruction rate. But I've got to tell you, the U.S. has been very instrumental in assisting on the defense. Hey, we're

not participating in offensive strikes at this moment, but we've been playing defense alongside Israel all along. Credit there to our Space Force, which detects every launch flare from an Iranian missile. And we've seen our U.S. Navy again with their Standard Missile 3s actually knock down some Iranian missiles with nose-on shots from the Mediterranean.

So the U.S. has been really instrumental in defense, and Israel is putting up an excellent defense and riding this out. Pretty cool that the Space Force is involved. It's the newest branch of our military, but it sounds like they have really a key element in all of this in protecting Israel from Iran. Now, Israel is on the offensive. President Trump on Truth Social has written that they know where the Iranian Supreme Leader is hiding.

And they're not going to take him out for now. Do you think that there is any sort of advantage or thing that might be positive out of eliminating the Supreme Leader of Iran? You mentioned some of the nuclear scientists in Iran who were killed. Of course, their top military commanders have been taken out also. But should Israel or maybe even the United States go as far to kill the leader of Iran?

Such a bold statement by President Trump. And to me, that is President Trump putting yet more pressure on Iran by saying, hey, we know where your leadership is. Trump has used military pressure pretty effectively, whether with threats or with force.

the deployment of forces into the region. I will say this, whatever the decision is, there's no question that the Ayatollah as head of Iran's military with Iran attacking Israel, this is no question leadership is a legitimate target.

Well, you mentioned some of the military assets. We know the USS Nimitz is being moved into the region. Other fighter jets and military assets have been changing position leading up to this strike as well. What is the purpose of the United States shifting more military assets to the Middle East?

The option to intensify air operations and key elements, adding the second aircraft carrier. With two carriers, those are sovereign options. No permission is needed from hosts in the region to launch strikes, whether offensive or defensive, going after drones, etc. And then the movement of tankers, hugely significant. Air refueling tankers form an air bridge that can either bring in fighter jets, called dragging across the pond,

Or they can help long range bombers to do the multiple refuelings that would be necessary if our B-2s and other bombers are called on to get into the operation. Now, the Nimitz had been deployed to the South China Sea. It is slowly moving through the Singapore Strait and eventually will be in the Middle East. But it was in the South China Sea for a reason as a deterrent.

to China. Dr. Graham, what that had me wondering about was if the United States is moving some of these major military assets more towards the Middle East. Are we taking our eye off of Southeast Asia and the threat that China poses to our assets there? Well, as China knows, we have plenty of assets in the Pacific, but it's a good point. This is the second time in a year that the U.S. has had to gap a carrier in the Pacific in order to respond to the situation in the Middle East. And this is why, in the end, we can't have a new

nuclear Iran, our global containment and force posture, our military needs to work in the Pacific. We need to be with NATO. We cannot have the threat, the ongoing threat from a potential nuclear Iran. This has got to be resolved.

Iranian leadership likes to chant phrases like death to America and death to Israel, but that's not working out very well for the regime there right now. After no deal could be made to end Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel took military action and it continues as the so-called Operation Rising Lion continues to degrade Iranian nuclear ambitions. Today, we're taking a look at what's going on with national security expert and vice president of the Lexington Group, Dr. Rebecca Grant.

Ahead, we'll talk about where she sees this conflict going and just how long it might take. It's all yours coming up next. The NBA playoffs are here, and I'm getting my bets in on FanDuel. Talk to me, Chuck GPT. What do you know? All sorts of interesting stuff. Even Charles Barkley's greatest fear. Hey, nobody needs to know that. New customers bet $5 to get 200 in bonus bets if you win FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook.

21 plus and present in Illinois. Must be first online real money wager. $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus pass that expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at fanduel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Our guest today is Dr. Rebecca Grant. She's vice president of the Lexington Institute and a national security expert.

Dr. Grant, there was a lot of concern about a potential attack against Iran that other regional players might get involved as well. Let's talk about some of them. First of all, Saudi Arabia. The Saudis seem to get along very well with President Trump here. But of course, you know, they're big players in this region, both militarily and economically. Where do you think they stand and might they get involved in this somehow?

Well, I think Saudi Arabia and other partners in the region, nobody wants a wider war with Iran. Remember, Iran brought this on themselves. And what I'm seeing is a very precise, very contained and controlled campaign to take away Iran's nuclear weapons.

weapons capability. And Iran can stop this anytime by coming to the negotiating table, by stopping the strikes. And I think that our partners in the region will quietly support making sure that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and support President Trump's efforts to contain Iran and to contain this conflict. Don't forget.

40,000 U.S. forces in the Central Command region prior to the recent deployments, going up to probably close to 50,000. Another interesting player, of course, is Russia. They have their hands full with Ukraine, but they also have called what Israel is doing with Iran illegal. We know that Iran and Russia have been friendly to each other in trade and otherwise. Do you think that there is any chance Vladimir Putin might get involved, at least in some way?

putin might try to get in and has offered to take away that illegal enriched uranium that iran is holding on to and russia builds iran's civilian nuclear facilities but i don't know if russia is going to be any help at this point don't forget china backing iran diplomatically and continuing to buy iran's oil keeping iran in business but remember this is not about a ground invasion and a wider war this is about taking away

the threat of Iran's potential nuclear capability. Dr. Grant, for me, it seems like it's already over. I mean, if you can get Israeli fighter jets flying freely in Iranian airspace, what else is there really to negotiate here? It seems like Israel can go into Iran right now and do basically anything they want. So we've seen these mass evacuations and traffic jams out of Tehran. President Trump, as you mentioned, has been very bold and all right brazen on social media in his threats against Iran.

where does iran stand right now it seems like sure their nuclear facilities have been degraded but it doesn't seem like they have much chance of defending themselves against anything israel wants to do

Right. Iran has very few military options at this point. And it's a huge credit to Israel's Air Force, which mostly flies U.S.-made planes, F-35s, F-16s, F-15s, sometimes with Israeli modifications. But it really just shows you how important manned aircraft are to this and to carrying out this campaign. And they have basically pried open Iran's air defenses, taken out

the top of the line Russian air defenses that Iran had and shown that with the right intelligence and the right type of air power, you can really pick apart a threat like Iran. Iran has a number of proxy groups around the world, most notably Hamas. Hezbollah is also there in parts of southern Lebanon as well. What do you think those groups are thinking to themselves as they see Iran really just get crushed by Israel right now?

Well, there goes their number one sponsor, and it must be just astonishing. Of course, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis as well have all been really devastated by Israeli, and in the case of the Houthis, by U.S. operations. So we've done a lot to take down Iran's terror proxies. There are terror proxies in Iraq, of course. And of course, a huge concern is not only in the Houthis, but in the Houthis as well.

not to have any of those terror proxies attacking our U.S. forces. Wow. If that happens, the reprisals will be just beyond imagining. So I hope that this is going to be ideally the end of Iran's nuclear ambitions and a huge setback for Iran as the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism. Is that how you see all this playing out? Because clearly the Israelis have the upper hand. The Americans are going to have military assets in the region.

Five days in, it already seems like this thing is over. There was a comment today by Senator Lindsey Graham that it could be over in 20 days if we wanted it to be. How do you see it playing out, at least in the immediate future?

I do see a powerful but limited military operation. What we're waiting for is signs that Iran's military is going to stand down and back down. And then for someone, Iran's president or someone else, to say, all right, we'll talk, we'll show you that our nuclear sites, what's left of them, are open for inspection. But it may take more military pressure and the deployment of U.S. assets indicates that this could be the case. What a...

regime full of thugs in Iran who knows what it takes to get them to give up these ambitions. But the moment seems right for the U.S. to support Israel's operations, whether that's defensively or with some limited offensive strikes. I think the moment is here to take out Iran's nuclear capability once and for all. Iran's use of ballistic missiles both last year and this year on Israel just proved

that that regime is out of control. We've got to end their military menace. It really is so crazy. It's such a complex issue and it all comes down to one thing. We don't want Iran getting a nuclear weapon. It's dangerous for the entire world, but especially for Israel. And we don't like to see military action anywhere around the world, Dr. Graham, but let's hope that what's going on currently in the Middle East

will eventually lead to a more stable Iran and to a more stable region, really, and to more peace. That is definitely the hope here. Dr. Rebecca Grant, we always enjoy your insight. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us and be on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition podcast. Thank you.

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