Donald Trump was elected on a promise to avoid foreign wars and international entanglements. On Saturday night, he sent B-2 bombers into action to obliterate what was left of Iran’s nuclear programme, using the sort of deep-penetrating weapons that Israel lacks. Insiders said this was not a departure from his campaign pledge but a reminder that American power is based on the idea of “peace through strength”. He is still a leader who puts deals ahead of military action, said one former official speaking before the strikes, but one who recognises that the best deals come when adversaries are negotiating from a weakened position. He had sent a signal of his intent on Thursday. “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” was the quote read by Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary. President kept the world guessing But headlines around the world misread Mr Trump’s intentions, suggesting that he had just announced a 14-day window for Iran to come to the table. In fact he was saying said he would make his decision within two weeks. There was no window or deadline. Concerned officials in the West Wing quietly started briefing that anything could still happen, at any time. Mr Trump clarified the position on Friday when asked when he might take action: “I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum.” With American assets – such as a second carrier strike group – moving into the region, pressure mounted on Iran to come back to the table. Yet reports suggested Tehran was paralysed. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been spirited to a secret location and no-one could find him to respond to back-channel noises about setting up negotiations, officials told Axios. With the president at his New Jersey golf course on Saturday, tensions ratcheted up again. Officials revealed that B-2 stealth warplanes and refuelling tankers had left their Missouri base for the Pacific base of Guam. Mr Trump, unusually, only spent one night in New Jersey, flying back to the White House on Saturday afternoon before huddling with his top advisers. The announcement everyone had been poised for came at 7.50pm (12.50am UK) on Mr Trump’s Truth Social platform. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” he posted. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space.” Fordow had been fingered as a likely target. Its facilities are deep inside a mountain, beyond the reach of Israeli weapons. Only the US had the sort of bunker-busting armaments needed. But the strikes went further than that. “I think what Trump is doing by hitting three sites is he’s going all in,” said Gabriel Noronha, State Department Iran adviser during Mr Trump’s first term. “It’s not just a pin prick, but ... he is putting the finishing blow to the Iran nuclear program, and he is owning that, and he is embracing that, and he’s going to want the credit for that as well, and he deserves it.” And he was reminding the world that there is more to Mr Trump than a dealmaker, said Simone Ledeen, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East. “It’s a really powerful message to China and Russia and whoever else thinks that the US has gone weak.”