-By LeN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -24.June.2025, 4.15 AM) It began not with a bang, but a flicker on a radar screen. At 04:22 local time on June 13th, an Israeli F-35 squadron pierced Iranian airspace in what Israeli Defence Forces later described as a “covert operation targeting IRGC elite personnel near Qom.” It would take less than 24 hours for the strike to spiral into what many feared was the dawn of a regional apocalypse. It ended, quite unexpectedly, with a handshake negotiated in a room that smelled suspiciously of hairspray and MAGA memorabilia—brokered by none other than U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
But in those twelve chaotic days between airstrikes and ceasefires, the world stood on the edge. Tel Aviv’s skies lit up with Iranian ballistic missiles. Tehran’s streets emptied as civilians braced for American retaliation. And somewhere in the Iranian desert, a tremor rumbled underground—not an earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey later confirmed, but the unmistakable footprint of a nuclear test.
Iran’s military brass had grown accustomed to Israeli drone incursions and cyber sabotage. But the June 13th strike was different. Israeli jets, flying low under Iranian radar, unleashed a torrent of precision-guided munitions on what Mossad called “a Tier One target”—believed to be a gathering of Iran’s top missile scientists and IRGC operatives.
Iran’s retaliation was swift and theatrical. Within hours, Tehran launched an array of missiles, including its much-vaunted hypersonic Fattah-2, targeting Israeli airbases and military installations in the Negev. While Iron Dome intercepted most projectiles, fragments struck civilian zones in Beersheba and Ashkelon. Five Israelis were killed, including two children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, still under indictment for corruption charges, seized the moment with theatrical defiance. “Iran must be punished for dreaming of nuclear power,” he declared, standing at a makeshift war podium conveniently erected in front of his trial court.
But the bigger bomb—both figuratively and literally—was still to come.
On June 16th, tremors were detected in central Iran, near the city of Qom. At first, officials played it off as an earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey disagreed. A press briefing from the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) confirmed what many suspected: “The seismic signature suggests a subterranean nuclear detonation of low-yield magnitude.”
The world gasped. Iran had crossed the Rubicon.
Iranian state media neither confirmed nor denied the report. A day later, the Ayatollah’s office released a cryptic statement: “We do not need to answer to those who supply Israel with thousands of warheads.” For analysts, the message was clear: Iran had joined the elite and dangerous club of nuclear-armed nations—becoming, controversially, the second Islamic nation after Pakistan to do so.
While former U.S. President Joe Biden convened a National Security Council meeting, it was Donald Trump—conspicuously in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate—who leapt into the diplomatic vacuum. Within hours, Trump posted a video from his golf cart claiming, “Only I can stop the war. Believe me, I get along with Bibi, I get along with the Iranians. We’ll make peace—bigly.”
The State Department was reportedly blindsided. But Trump, never one for protocol, contacted the Kremlin directly. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was already in Moscow, seeking guarantees from Putin. Trump offered a deal: a ceasefire brokered through a trilateral backchannel—Moscow, Mar-a-Lago, and Tel Aviv.
And it worked. Probably.
Before the ceasefire could be inked, the U.S. launched a devastating air assault on a site near Podro, just 30 miles from Qom. The strike, carried out by stealth B-2 bombers from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, was meant to demonstrate “strategic deterrence.” It also served as a reminder to Iran that underground doesn’t mean invisible.
Iran’s response was fiery but measured. Ballistic missiles rained down on U.S. bases in Qatar, causing injuries but no fatalities. A communiqué from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that further attacks on Iranian soil would result in “comprehensive retaliatory strikes on U.S. military assets in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq.”
For a moment, it looked like the war would go regional. Oil prices surged. The Strait of Hormuz was choked with tankers preparing to divert. The Houthis in Yemen launched drone attacks toward Eilat, while Hezbollah warned Israel of a “second front.”
Then, quite suddenly, Trump reappeared, flanked by aides wearing suspiciously shiny suits and a backdrop of American and Iranian flags arranged to resemble a WWE stage.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” he announced, “I just spoke with Ayatollah… something. We had a tremendous conversation. Also spoke to Bibi. No more missiles. No more nukes. We made a deal. You’re welcome.”
Diplomatic channels later confirmed that the ceasefire—brokered unofficially by Trump with support from Moscow—would be honoured by both parties under specific terms:
• Iran would pause its missile strikes and nuclear testing.
• Israel would halt aerial bombardments and cyber offensives.
• Russia and China would observe as “technical guarantors.”
• NATO would convene on June 24th in The Hague to discuss post-war regional security.
The surprise ceasefire was also credited, oddly enough, to China. Satellite imagery confirmed that a Chinese cargo plane had delivered “military-grade components” to Turkmenistan, later transported to Iran. While the West speculates these include radar-jamming systems and bunker-hardening tech, Beijing remained characteristically mum.
The real elephant in the situation room remains Iran’s nuclear status. Has the Islamic Republic joined the club? The IAEA has demanded access. Tehran remains evasive.
Western intelligence agencies, however, are nearly unanimous. Iran’s test was “successful enough” to indicate a fission-based warhead design. Whether they can miniaturize it and mount it on a missile is another matter. But the fact remains: Tehran likely has the bomb. And that changes everything.
“It’s no longer a question of if Iran is nuclear,” said retired MI6 officer Charles Barrington. “It’s now a question of how many, how deliverable, and how soon until they show us.”
Netanyahu has already declared victory, bizarrely crediting himself with stopping a war he arguably started. Iranian state TV declared the ceasefire “a strategic humiliation for Zionists.” Meanwhile, Trump’s approval ratings, at least among his base, soared. One supporter tweeted: “He ended WW3 from his golf cart. Give him the Nobel.”
All eyes now turn to The Hague, where NATO foreign ministers will meet in crisis mode on June 24th. High on the agenda: nuclear proliferation, Iranian containment, and Red Sea shipping routes increasingly under threat from Houthi attacks.
Meanwhile, the global oil market is jittery. The Strait of Hormuz remains a pressure point. Prices touched $110 per barrel before stabilizing. Defence contractors are already lobbying for increased budgets. Israel has quietly requested more F-35s. Iran has reportedly ordered more drones from North Korea.
Twelve Days of Fury – Lessons Learned
• Never underestimate the vanity of wounded leaders: Netanyahu needed a war to deflect from courtrooms, Iran needed a bomb to boost deterrence.
• Trump’s diplomatic prowess remains unconventional—but oddly effective when the world is on fire.
• The nuclear threshold has now been tested—both literally and metaphorically—and the rules of engagement have shifted.
As one unnamed European diplomat quipped in Brussels: “We’ve entered the age of golf-cart geopolitics. And somehow, it’s working.”
Welcome to the post-truth, post-diplomacy, post-deterrence world.
-By LeN Foreign Affairs Correspondent
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by (2025-06-24 01:41:12)
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