TRUMP: ‘EVERYONE SHOULD IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE TEHRAN!’: President Donald Trump cut short his time at the Group of Seven summit in Alberta, Canada, to rush home to Washington, dismissing suggestions that he might be seeking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Iran war, which is now in its fifth day. “It certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that … Stay tuned,” he posted on Truth Social.
Earlier, he had posted a warning to Iranians in the capital city, “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” he said, after lamenting, “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again!” Earlier Monday, Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning to 330,000 people in a part of central Tehran that houses the country’s state TV and police headquarters.
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Before leaving Canada, Trump reversed himself, signing a revised joint G-7 statement calling for a resolution of the Iranian crisis that “leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza.”
“We’re going to have dinner with these wonderful leaders, and then, I get on the plane. I have to be back early for obvious reasons,” Trump said during a photo session. “I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand this is big stuff.”
TRUMP LEAVES G7 SUMMIT EARLY TO RETURN TO WHITE HOUSE FOR ‘MANY IMPORTANT MATTERS’
IN THE SITUATION ROOM: On the plane back to Washington, Trump told reporters that he believes Iran is “very close” to a nuclear weapon, and dismissed the testimony in March from his own top spymaster Tulsi Gabbard. “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having them,” CBS News senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs posted on X.
“Trump wants ‘a real end’ to the nuclear problem with Iran and this morning will find him in the White House Situation Room, monitoring developments in the Middle East,” reported Jacobs, who was on Air Force One. “Asked his thinking on calling for Tehran to evacuate, he told me he wants ‘people to be safe,” she said.
Jacobs also confirmed that Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio had also left with Trump on the midnight flight out of Canada and explained his early departure as a need to be in the White House “where he can be ‘well versed’ and not have to rely on phones to know what’s happening.”
He declined to say if the U.S. would get involved in destroying Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities at Natanz and Fordow, both of which the IAEA assesses have been relatively unscathed, or whether the Pentagon had provided options for the use of bunker-busting bombs to attack those targets. “I can’t tell you that,” Trump said, but added he hoped Iran’s program “is wiped out long before” the U.S. would have to get involved.
US SURGES PLANES, SHIPS: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X yesterday that he has directed the deployment of additional capabilities to the Central Command area of responsibility. He indicated that the reinforcements were intended to protect U.S. troops in the region and enhance America’s defense posture.
“A U.S. official told Western media on June 16 that the USS Nimitz carrier strike group is en route to the Middle East from the South China Sea, and it is ahead of schedule,” the Institute for the Study of War reported in its overnight assessment. It also noted that publicly available flight tracking data showed at least 21 refueling tanker aircraft were moving to Europe.
The Nimitz, was expected to replace the USS Carl Vinson to maintain a two-carrier presence in the Middle East, but is moving ahead of schedule as tensions in the war have heated up.
US MILITARY BOLSTERING MIDDLE EAST PRESENCE AMID ISRAEL-IRAN WAR
Good Tues morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: THE OTHER WAR CONTINUES: While Israel’s unrelenting attacks on Iran move into the fifth day, in the other war, residents of Kyiv were subjected to another onslaught of drones and missiles that killed at least 14 civilians and wounded another 100.
It’s just the latest in almost daily assaults by Russia, in which each one seems to be described as the “most intense or deadliest in months.”
“More than 440 drones and 32 missiles were used. Kyiv has faced one of the most horrific attacks. Also, overnight, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv regions were attacked,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X from the G7 Summit.
Zelensky hoped to meet one-on-one with President Trump today at the summit to press for the United States to resume military aid to Ukraine, which has run out with little left in the pipeline. However, Trump departed before the meeting could happen.
“Putin does this solely because he can afford to continue the war. He wants the war to go on. It is wrong when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it,” Zelensky said. “Such attacks are pure terrorism. And the whole world, the United States, and Europe must finally respond as a civilized society responds to terrorists.”
TRUMP ATTACKS ‘KOOKY TUCKER CARLSON’: Former Fox Host Tucker Carlson has been on a rant recently decrying “warmongers” who want the U.S. to help Israel in its war against Iran, and arguing that “there is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None.”
“Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant or dishonest. If the U.S. government knew Iran was weeks from possessing a nuclear weapon, we’d be at war already,” Tucker posted on X June 4. “It goes without saying that there are very few Trump voters who’d support a regime change war in Iran. Donald Trump has argued loudly against reckless lunacy like this. Trump ran for president as a peace candidate. That’s what made him different from conventional Republicans. It’s why he won. A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of his supporters. It would end his presidency. That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it.”
“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’” Trump replied on Truth Social. In an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast show, Carlson also accused Fox News of “turning up the propaganda hose to full blast and trying to knock elderly Fox viewers off their feet.”
“I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying,” Trump told reporters at the G-7 summit. “Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.”
ISRAEL-IRAN WAR EXPOSES DIVIDE IN TRUMP’S MAGA BASE
IRAN’S 3-DAY CHIEF OF STAFF: It was a short-lived promotion for Iran’s newest military chief of staff. Ali Shadmani, who Israel described as “Iran’s senior-most military official” and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “closest military adviser,” was appointed to replace Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, who died in an Israeli airstrike five days ago.
In a post on X, the Israeli Defense Forces claimed to have “eliminated” Shadmani in an IAF strike in central Tehran, following “precise intelligence.”
Since the war began, Israel has killed at least 20 senior Iranian commanders and six nuclear scientists.
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Trump leaves G7 summit early to return to White House for ‘many important matters’
Washington Examiner: Trump orders NSC to Situation Room after calling for immediate evacuation of Tehran
Washington Examiner: ‘Whiff of regime change is in the air’ after initial Israeli successes against Iran
Washington Examiner: US military bolstering Middle East presence amid Israel-Iran war
Washington Examiner: Israel looks to US to hit Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility
Washington Examiner: Israel-Iran war exposes divide in Trump’s MAGA base
Washington Examiner: Tim Kaine to force Senate vote on Trump authority to attack Iran
Washington Examiner: Israel issues evacuation warning to Tehran residents
Washington Examiner: Russia offers to take enriched uranium from Iranian nuclear facilities
Washington Examiner: G7 summit: Canada, India seek joint intelligence plan despite feud over alleged assassination
Washington Examiner: US and UK announce trade deal as Trump spills documents on the ground
Washington Examiner: Trump fires Democratic member of Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington Examiner: Israel destroys at least two rare antiquated F-14 Tomcats in strike on Tehran airport
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Iran is nothing like the Iraq War
AP: Trump is at a moment of choosing as Israel looks for more US help crushing Iran’s nuclear program
Wall Street Journal: Iran Looks to Trump and Nuclear Talks as Escape Hatch as Attacks Intensify
Forbes: Ukraine’s Effects-Based Precision Guided Munition Strikes: Implications
Breaking Defense: Boeing ‘Very Close’ to Finalizing Air Force One Design Changes
Air & Space Forces Magazine: One Hypersonic Missile’s Delay May Explain Comeback of Another
Breaking Defense: Lockheed Believes it Has Finished F-35 TR-3 Upgrade, Executive Says
The War Horse: ‘They’re Taking Shirly’: An Army Sergeant Thought His Family Was Safe. Then ICE Deported His Wife.
Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Normandy Memorial Honors Eighth Air Force Airmen Crucial to D-Day Victory
THE CALENDAR:
TUESDAY| JUNE 17
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave NW — CSIS Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency 15th Annual South China Sea Conference with Adm. Stephen “Web” Koehler, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet https://www.csis.org/events/fifteenth-annual-south-china-sea-conference
10 a.m. 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies National Security Symposium: “The China Challenge: U.S. National Security Policy in the 21st Century,” with Alexander Yui Tah-ray, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. https://fedsoc.org/conferences/2025-national-security-symposium
10:30 a.m. 124 Dirksen — Senate Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing: “Proposed budget estimates for FY2026 for military construction and family housing” http://appropriations.senate.gov
11 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion of new report: “The Russian Wartime Economy: From Sugar High to Hangover,” with Elina Ribakova, nonresident senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow, CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program; and Max Bergmann, director, CSIS Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program https://www.csis.org/events/russian-wartime-economy
12 p.m. SVC-215, U.S. Capitol — Cato Institute briefing: “NATO 2025 Summit: Rebalancing the Transatlantic Relationship,” with Joshua Shifrinson, associate professor, University of Maryland; Justin Logan, Cato director of defense and foreign policy studies; and Lawrence Montreuil, Cato director of government affairs https://www.cato.org/events/nato-2025-summit-rebalancing-transatlantic-relationship
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” virtual discussion: “Modernizing Army Personnel Management and Readiness,” with Lt. Gen. Brian Eifler, deputy Army chief of staff (G-1); and Marshall “Will” Williams, former acting assistant Army secretary for manpower and reserve affairs https://www.ausa.org/events/noon-report/ltg-brian-eifler
CANCELED: 12 p.m. — Carnegie Endowment for International Peace virtual discussion: “The Future of Israeli-Palestinian Peace,” with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; and former Palestine Liberation Organization Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa https://carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/06/israeli-palestinian-peace
1 p.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Drone, defense, and diplomacy: Negotiations and the battlefield in Ukraine,” with Konstantin von Egert, Russian affairs analyst at Deutsche Weller, Russian Service; William Taylor, fellow, Atlantic Council Eurasia Center; and Debra Cagan, senior adviser, Atlantic Council, Eurasia Center https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/drones-defense-and-diplomacy
4 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Israel and Iran At War: What Comes Next?” with Daniel Byman, director, CSIS Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program; Doreen Horschig, fellow, CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues; Will Todman, senior fellow at the CSIS Middle East Program; and Mona Yacoubian, director of the CSIS Middle East Program https://www.csis.org/events/israel-and-iran-war-what-comes-next
WEDNESDAY | JUNE 18
8 a.m. 7920 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, Virginia — Potomac Officers Club Army Summit with Army Chief Information Officer Leonel Garciga https://potomacofficersclub.com/events/2025-army-summit/
9:30 a.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing: “The Department of Defense Budget Request for FY2026 and the Future Years Defense Program,” with testimony from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine; and Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, performing the duties of Defense undersecretary/comptroller http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. 616 Rhode Island Ave. NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies and Korea Foundation discussion: “Looking Forward: The Future of U.S.-Japan-Korea Trilateral Relations,,” with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ); Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ).; Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK); Kurt Campbell, former deputy secretary of state and chairman and co-founder, Asia Group; and Han-koo Yeo, senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and former trade minister of Korea https://www.csis.org/events/looking-forward-future
10 a.m. 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies National Security Symposium: “The China Challenge: U.S. National Security Policy in the 21st Century,” with Alexander Yui Tah-ray, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S https://fedsoc.org/conferences/2025-national-security-symposium
10:30 a.m. — Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing: “A Review of the President’s FY2026 Budget Request for the Army,” with testimony from Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George http://appropriations.senate.gov
10:30 a.m. 419 Dirksen — Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: “NATO Summit 2025: An Assessment of Transatlantic Security Cooperation.”http://foreign.senate.gov
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” virtual discussion: “Modernizing Army Personnel Management and Readiness,” with Lt. Gen. Brian Eifler, deputy Army chief of staff; and Marshall “Will” Williams, former acting assistant Army secretary for manpower and reserve affairs https://www.ausa.org/events/noon-report/ltg-brian-eifler
THURSDAY | JUNE 19 (JUNETEENTH — FEDERAL HOLIDAY)
10:30 a.m. White House Ellipse — National Juneteenth Observance Foundation Juneteenth People’s Parade, with U.S. Colored Troops and Buffalo Soldier reenactors leading the parade from the Martin Luther King Memorial and eastbound on Constitution Ave. to the White House Ellipse, where the 257th Army Band, also known as the President’s Band, will join the marchers ; https://www.national-juneteenth.org/