Iran Nuclear Program: A Featured Controversy from Issues & Controversies
On June 12, 2025, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, carrying out a series of coordinated air strikes and drone attacks on dozens of targets in Iran, where the regime has defined itself in opposition to the United States, Israel, and the West in general since 1979. The attacks hit Iranian nuclear facilities, military bases, and energy infrastructure, killing top government officials, military leaders, and nuclear scientists, and at least temporarily debilitating Iran’s ability to respond. Then, on June 21, U.S. aircraft and submarines carried out strikes on Iran’s three nuclear facilities, one of which was built deep within a mountain, using “bunker-buster” bombs that only the United States possesses and which only U.S. aircraft can carry. The strikes upended more than two decades of U.S. strategy toward Iran, which had relied on diplomacy and sanctions to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran but shied from military action for fear of escalation. Israel and the U.S. launched their campaigns just before a sixth round of talks between Iranian and United States diplomats were scheduled to be held in an ongoing effort to induce Iran to give up its nuclear program—the previous attempt being the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under President
