President Donald Trump has described the bombing of Iran from Israel as a ‘very successful attack’ as he urges them to ‘make a deal’.

The 78-year-old has been pushing for the Middle Eastern country to sign a nuclear deal with the group of world powers known as the P5+1 – which includes the US, UK, Germany, France, China and Russia, who’ve all been in negotiation with Iran in regards to its nuclear program since 2006.

For those unaware, the deal was for Iran to bring to a halt its nuclear development program – with world leaders worried that the country intends to create a nuclear artillery for warfare. In return for Iran axing the program, the US and other leading nations would lift the sanctions placed on Iran.

The agreement is similar to the first deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), struck in 2015. However, Trump opted the US out of it in May 2018 during his first term as president, labelling it ‘defective at its core’.

The Trump administration then sought to reinstate the sanctions on Iran, a move which the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said ‘disgraced’ US prestige and liberal democracy, according to the BBC.

A view of a damaged building in the Iranian capital, Tehran, following an attack, on June 13, 2025. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced that Israel conducted strikes on Iran (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images

Upon his return to the White House, Trump issued a batch of sanctions on Iran, this time directed at their’ oil network’, as per Al Jazeera.

Between 2012 and 2016, the Iranian economy lost a total of $160 billion in revenue from its oil supply alone. After Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018, the Iranian rial, its local currency, dropped to a record low.

Iran is currently in a deep recession and has been since the sanctions were put in place.

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” the Republican wrote on Truth Social.

“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.”

Since then, Israel launched a major attack in the early hours of this morning (June 13) that set off explosions in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Israeli army says it launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program (Yilmaz Yucel/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Israel said it hit ‘dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran’, killing Iran’s top military and nuclear scientists (via the BBC).

Israel’s attack comes as tensions have escalated over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear programme, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the strikes were ‘a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival’.

Trump’s post continued: “Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!

“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!”

He later added: “Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”

He also told CNN that the strikes were a ‘very successful attack’, adding that the US ‘supports Israel’.

Two military experts have explained why they believe World War 3 has already begun despite the lack of tell-tale signs evident in previous global conflicts.

Characteristics of the first two world wars included the likes of conscriptions, widespread invasions, air raid sirens and evacuations, and while some of these are evident once again in the ongoing war in Ukraine, they’re not features that are happening across the globe.

But just because we’re not concealing ourselves in blackouts or seeing tanks on the streets doesn’t necessarily mean global conflict isn’t ongoing, according to national security expert Mark Toth and former US intelligence officer Col. Jonathan Sweet.

War is typically associated with weapons and explosives (Getty Stock Photo)

In an interview with the Mail Online, the two experts pointed to evidence that may suggest a third world war is underway – one that doesn’t involve ‘mushroom clouds or apocalyptic wastelands’, but instead is a ‘war by a thousand cuts, conducted across multi-regional and multi-domain battlefields’.

Alongside the standard weapons and explosives often associated with wars, such as the type being used in Ukraine, Toth and Sweet claimed conflict today is also fought through the likes of cyberattacks, disinformation, sabotage and economic manipulation.

The experts referenced Russia and its president Vladimir Putin as examples for this kind of approach, pointing not only to the invasion of Ukraine, but to espionage in Europe, coups in Africa, and a spread of misinformation across the globe.

Sweet and Toth described these methods as ‘grey zone’ warfare, saying: “Putin’s ability to conduct hybrid warfare is arguably his greatest strength.”

They continued: “To fully understand the scope of Russia’s vast disinformation campaign, just look at the US, UK, and Africa. Russian troll and bot farms use memes and fake fact-check accounts to demonise the West and distract from Russian paramilitaries overthrowing democracies.

“Russian troll and bot farms have infiltrated online spaces with cartoons, memes, and fake fact-check accounts to disseminate discord and erode confidence in Western governments.”

Experts pointed to Vladimir Putin’s approach to conflict (Contributor/Getty Images)

Concerns about a battle for power have also been raised by Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, of the British Royal Air Force, who spoke in a Q&A at the Freeman Air and Space Institute earlier this month.

“We are witnessing a return to great power competition,” Knighton said at the event.

“With the rapid advancement of technology and the economic, technical, and warfighting capabilities of other major powers, we no longer have total air supremacy,” he continued.

However, while Toth and Sweet are firm in their belief that the ongoing conflict is ‘already a world war’, other experts aren’t quite so convinced.

Adeline Van Houtte, Senior Europe Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told the Mail that while the risk of escalation has grown, World War 3 is not actually underway.

She said: “The revised nuclear use threshold and the Oreshnik [missile] are most likely intended to send a message to the West, but a nuclear escalation remains highly unlikely.”

President Zelenskyy has issued a new plea to Donald Trump amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022 and the two countries have been embroiled in devastating conflict ever since.

Heads of state have failed to help Ukraine and Russia agree to a peace deal, but President Trump made it his mission to do so when he returned to office earlier this year.

Following his first presidency, Trump built up a rapport with Vladimir Putin and is hoping to use this to end the ongoing war that’s thought to have killed over 12,600 people as of February 2025, United Nations said at the time.

Palm Sunday attacks on Sumy has killed over 30 people (Ukrainian State Emergency Service / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

But this death toll has since increased following a Russian missile strike on the city of Sumy yesterday (April 13). At the time of writing, 34 people are reported to have died in the strike.

Local officials said two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city at around 10.30am local time as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies wrapped in foil blankets lay among the debris. A further 117 people were wounded, including 15 children.

Trump has since addressed the matter and suggested that the strike was a ‘mistake’.

“I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington yesterday evening.

He did not clarify whether he was saying the attack was unintentional.

Yesterday’s attack came on the same day a new CBS 60 Minutes interview with Zelenskyy aired.

In it, the Ukrainian president urged Trump to come visit Ukraine to see the devastation caused by the ongoing war before any big decisions are made between the US, Ukraine, and Russia.

Zelenskyy wants Trump to see the devastation for himself (OLEG VORONENKO/AFP via Getty Images)

He said to a message to the POTUS: “Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.”

Zelenskyy also spoke of how he feels ‘100 percent hatred’ towards Putin.

“Though this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to end the war as soon as possible and transition to diplomacy,” he went on to say of reaching a peace deal with Russia.

Three Russian sources have spoken out revealing Putin’s alleged terms when going into the upcoming next round of direct talks with Ukraine to negotiate a ceasefire.

Talks have been ongoing between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin with the POTUS pushing the two countries towards a ceasefire.

Granted, some discussions have certainly been more positive than others – Trump raising his voice at Zelenskyy and accusing him of ‘gambling with World War Three’ alongside branding Putin ‘crazy‘.

However, Ukraine ultimately expressed it’s readiness to accept a ceasefire agreement. The countries then agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war – seemingly a step in the right direction. Alas, Russia then returned to escalating the violence further, launching an overnight attack on May 24 killing at least 16, including children, Al Jazeera reports.

Now it would seem Putin is all ears for peace again – but there are allegedly some T’s and C’s.

Ukraine has been more open to peace negotiations (CHARLES PLATIAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia’s proposition for peace in Ukraine

Three Russian sources reported as having ‘knowledge of the negotiations,’ told Reuters Putin has several conditions he’d want met before agreeing to any sort of ceasefire in Ukraine.

The conditions reportedly include the Western leaders pledging to stop expanding NATO to the east. Essentially, the ‘written’ document would pledge not to allow Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to join the political and military alliance.

The demands also allegedly include several sanctions placed on Russia being removed alongside Russian speakers in Ukraine being protected.

One senior Russian source said: “Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price.”

It follows Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov proposing a next round of talks to take place between the two countries on June 2.

Putin allegedly has some specific T’s and C’s when it comes to peace talks with Ukraine (Contributor/Getty Images)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s proposal for next talks

On Wednesday (May 28), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement Russia proposes holding the next round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in a matter of days.

He said: “We hope that all those who are sincerely, and not just in words, interested in the success of the peace process will support holding a new round of direct Russian-Ukrainian negotiations in Istanbul

“Let me emphasise: right there, on the spot, we are ready to begin an essential, substantive discussion of each of the points of the package agreement on a possible ceasefire.”

It follows a conversation between Trump and Putin which saw Putin agree to work alongside Ukraine to draft a memorandum establishing details of a peace agreement.