Mark Mazzetti

They have been interested in long-range missiles that could hit the United States.

But the Defense Intelligence Agency last year concluded that it could be a decade before they have an arsenal of long-range ballistic missiles, and they haven't even necessarily committed to the technology.

Separately, you heard various advisors talking about Iran restarting its nuclear program.

Steve Witkoff even said it could be a week away from a nuclear weapon.

And what we reported is that that is also not the case.

The strikes last June did enough damage to Iran's nuclear program that it would –

take far longer for Iran to really be able to restart it in a way that would constitute a real threat and certainly wouldn't be able to do it within a week, as Witkoff said.

So they were kind of road testing these different justifications for war right up to the eve of the attack.

Right.

Obviously, the stated rationales have been dubious, but the attack, of course, happened anyway.

So, Mark, take us through the attack and how it unfolded.

So just after one in the morning Eastern time, the United States and Israeli militaries launched a coordinated assault on Iran against the nuclear sites, missile sites, government buildings, senior leaders.

There was a sort of division of labor here.

Israel was going after the senior leaders of Iran.

So would be the supreme leader, senior IRGC commanders, upper echelon of the political leadership.

The United States was more focused on military targets, ballistic missile targets, nuclear sites around the country.

And can you tell us, Mark, what do we know about what exactly was hit?

We're recording late afternoon on Saturday, and we want to be careful about what we can confirm and what we can't.

We certainly know there has been damage to government facilities and various other military facilities in Iran.

There is satellite footage of the supreme leader's compound, which appears to be flattened.