By Shyam Bhatia and Gulshan Luthra
London. President Donald Trump’s highly unusual meeting with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, last Wednesday (June 18) was part of a carefully staged diplomatic and military preparation for the US weekend strike on Iran, according to multiple sources familiar with the visit.
The private working lunch—unprecedented in that it excluded any Pakistani civilian figures—was held in the Roosevelt Room, adjacent to the Oval Office, and lasted nearly two hours. Munir was accompanied only by his ISI Director General, Lt Gen Asim Malik. White House aides say the session was “focused, direct, and unusually operational.”
Within 96 hours, at 2:30 a.m. Iran time on Sunday, June 22, US stealth bombers and submarine launched long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles struck three of Iran’s most heavily guarded nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. President Trump described the attack as “pre-emptive and decisive,” claiming intelligence showed Iran’s enrichment activities had crossed a red line.
(Lt Gen Malik was appointed by the army Chief, then General Asim Munir, as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He is the only link between the PM and the rest of the Government. His first task was to secure PM Sharif’s civilian approval to promote the Gen Munir as Field Marshal).
Iran’s Islamic regime has long been chanting the slogan ‘Death to America, Death to Israel,’ and this was cited as a threat by President Trump in his announcement on the bombings. Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, Trump has already declared, and said there was still time for the Islamic regime to come to the negotiating table. There could be more bombs otherwise.
Trump said USAF B 2 Stealth bombers dropped six GBU 57.
Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), or GBU-57 Bunker Buster bombs were dropped on three of Iran’s deep underground uranium enrichment and processing facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. And that Fordow, the main uranium processing facility, has been destroyed. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
The Bunker Buster has a 30,000 pound, or 13,000 kilo, warhead and can penetrate hard mountainous rocks more than 60 feet (18 metre) deep. This is the first time that this massive bomb has ever been used in a war.
US Navy submarines also fired 30 Tomahawk long range cruise missiles, or SLBMs, from 300 to 400 km away in the Indian Ocean on other nuclear-related facilities. Tomahawks were first used in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, but they are smaller, more advanced, and more lethal now.
Both the GBUs and Tomahawks have a precision accuracy of around three meters or less, thanks to the military grade GPS embedded in them and the world’s most sophisticated satellite network that the US has. At least a dozen US satellites would have been over Iran any time during, before, or after the operation.
Iranian Barrage of Missiles on Israel Continues
Iran followed the US bombings with a series of ballistic missile strikes on Israel, whose Air Force nonetheless dominated the Iranian skies and continued raids on its military infrastructure. Iranian strikes though covered attacks on civilian structures in Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Trump said the US was not attacking any civilians, and threatened Iran with more raids on its military installations if it did not accept peace.
Will Iran Accept Trump’s Proposal, or Threat? No.
Iran rejected that.
The hardline regime, which came to power with a religious, Islamic revolution in 1979, overthrowing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s royal government, is unlikely to deviate away from its policy of attacking Israel. Or USA, in line with its long-shouted slogans against them.
And that’s exactly where the US and Israeli leaders feel the chill. A nuclear bomb with Iran is one thing, and a nuclear bomb with Islamic Iran which shouts “Death to America and Death to Israel” is something else. It’s better to deal – negotiate or fight – with Iran now than with when it has the bomb, western diplomats here point out.
As expected, Iran has described the raids on its nuclear facilities “outrageous” and declared that it will hit back hard on US interests in the region. And of course, Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu Thanks US
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for his support after the bombings, and stressed that Iran’s proxies like Hezbollah and Houthis had also to be destroyed to bring peace to the Middle East.
President Trump apparent approach is to ensure that Iran is denied support by its friends, particularly Pakistan, which is its immediate neighbour and is believed to have given some nuclear assistance to Iran along with Turkey, and China and North Korea.
As for the recently self-appointed Field Marshal Asim Munir, said a senior Western diplomat who was briefed ahead of the meeting, “It wasn’t just protocol—it was planning,”
“The message was that the strikes were coming, and Pakistan needed to stay absolutely still.”
Why Pakistan
Why Pakistan? Officials in both Washington and Rawalpindi point to a combination of history, geography, and silent utility. While not an overt actor in Gulf affairs, Pakistan sits along one of the few remaining corridors that could be exploited by Iran for transit, fallback, or asymmetric action in a regional war.
The facts of geography and of course people to people equations cannot be ignored, despite diplomatic and strategic advantages and compulsions of the traditional Big Brother. Pakistan had to condemn the US strikes, and do it did.
Said a Foreign Office statement issued several hours after the strikes, in the afternoon of June 22: Pakistan condemns the US attacks on the nuclear facilities of Iran. Which follow the series of attacks by Israel. We are gravely concerned at the possible further escalation of tensions in the region.
The statement said the attacks were a violation of international law, and that Iran had the legitimate right to defend itself.
US Use of Pakistani bases
As for the US, the centre of its calculus is about Pakistani naval and airbases, particularly the Chaklala, or Nur Khan airbase in Rawalpindi, which US and NATO planners have long regarded as a potential node in any Gulf contingency. Though damaged by Indian strikes during the recent LoC escalation, Chaklala reportedly remains functional for medium-lift aircraft and surveillance support.
There is also one of the finest, and strategic ports Pakistan has; Gwadar, on the Baluchistan coast. Turkey has a built a beautiful airport there, but as per published reports, Gwadar is yet a ghost town due to Baloch sensitivities and struggle for freedom.
Howsoever, Pentagon sources say quiet US logistics flights have transited through Pakistan as recently as late 2024, under the guise of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. During the Trump–Munir meeting, Chaklala was explicitly mentioned as a “location of interest” and potential “chokepoint.”
“The Americans weren’t subtle,” said a senior Pakistani military source. “They were asserting expectations. Not making requests.”
The spectre of past cooperation with Iran loomed large over the talks. Multiple Western intelligence agencies have long tracked how Iran’s medium-range missile development—particularly the Shahab and Sejjil series—was aided by Pakistani-origin designs, materials, and engineering expertise, often via the so-called AQ Khan network. Of course, supported by the Pakistan army, notwithstanding denials.
While Islamabad has distanced itself from that legacy, US officials reportedly reminded Munir that the same missile systems are now ‘unacceptably’ trained on American assets in the region.
“We’re seeing missiles built with Pakistani DNA now locked onto US bases in the region,” said a US non-proliferation official. “That history is not abstract—it’s operational.”
On Saturday June 21, just hours before the first US bombs fell over Iran, Pakistan’s government announced it would nominate President Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “pragmatic diplomacy and role in de-escalating the May 2025 standoff with India.”
The announcement, made via the Ministry of Information’s official social media channels, sparked incredulity in foreign capitals—and fury in some Pakistani opposition circles.
Pakistani Concessions to US
Pakistani analysts interpret the move as a clear concession to US pressure, part of a broader strategy to pamper and reassure Washington of Islamabad’s alignment, even as it struggles to balance competing interests from China and domestic constituencies.
“It was obsequious, yes—but deliberate,” said a former Pakistani ambassador. “It signalled submission. It was a survival tactic.”
Pakistan has issued no response yet, but inside Rawalpindi, the Corps Commanders Conference met in emergency session on Sunday (June 22), with Munir reportedly instructing regional commands to “tighten all internal and external borders” and prepare for “a prolonged period of information fog and kinetic unpredictability.”
One official familiar with the deliberations described the atmosphere as “tense but resolved,” with senior generals warning that “Iranian revenge may not be geographically limited.”
“We’re not being asked to choose a side,” the official said. “We’re being warned to not accidentally become one.”
- Shyam Bhatia, Consulting Editor, has spent much time in the Gulf and Middle East, writing also for The Observer, London.
- Gulshan Luthra contributed from New Delhi.
