After days of postponed deadlines and diplomatic positioning, Trump ordered Operation Midnight Hammer against three Iranian nuclear facilities shortly after midnight. German outlets tracked the strikes in real-time as B-2 stealth bombers deployed bunker-busting GBU-57 bombs against Fordo, Isfahan, and Natans installations.
The operation concluded within 25 minutes, with Trump declaring Iran's nuclear program destroyed by dawn. Iran retaliated with rocket attacks on Israel while Foreign Minister Araghtschi announced plans to meet Putin on Monday. German Chancellor Merz, reportedly uninformed beforehand, convened a security cabinet as European leaders found themselves sidelined.
Editorial positions split sharply. Zeit and others defended the strikes as preventing a nuclear-armed Iran, while TAZ and SPD politicians criticized the escalation. By afternoon, impeachment discussions emerged as domestic opposition questioned Trump's congressional authority. NATO simultaneously agreed to raise defense spending targets to five percent of GDP, linking the Iran crisis to broader military preparedness against multiple threats.