“The View” host Joy Behar complained about President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites, first objecting to the fact that he did not exhaust the two week window he’d set for such an attack, and then to the fact that he had not warned Iran ahead of time that he planned to carry out the attacks.
Behar addressed the topic on Monday’s broadcast of the midday talk show, along with her regular cohosts — and ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl pushed back when she suggested that the Trump administration had been out of line in attacking the Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities.
“So on Thursday, the White House said that Trump was going to make a decision on Iran in the next two weeks, that’s what he said, remember that?” Behar began. “Okay, he was going to give diplomatic negotiations more time to play out. And then less than 48 hours later, this attack was underway. So what changed and what was he actually trying to accomplish here?”
“Look, the two weeks measure was clearly a little bit of a head fake,” Karl replied. “I mean, not entirely. I wouldn’t say the decision was finally made. All indications are he didn’t actually make the decision to so-called pull the trigger until Saturday … and then the attack commenced.”
Karl went on to say that he really believed Trump wanted “a Kim Jong Un moment” where Iran’s Supreme Leader came to the table and made an eleventh-hour deal, but that he made the decision to move forward with an attack when it was clear that would not happen.
Behar serious questions why Trump didn’t tell the Iranians he was going to bomb their nuclear weapons enrichment facility:
Behar: So, why did he keep it a secret for the surprise version? pic.twitter.com/RcCwemhuc6
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) June 23, 2025
“So, why did he keep it a secret — a surprise version?” Behar asked, apparently questioning why Trump did not broadcast his plans to attack prior to execution.
Karl said it was “absolutely a diversion,” adding, “all indications were that the B-2s were flying towards Guam, everybody thought, okay, we’re getting in position to be ready. They wanted to have some element of surprise.”