Coming around a mahogany conference table in the west wing of the White House, the US President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet discussed the conflict in Iran.
It was not the first meeting that Mr Trump had held about the increasing tensions in the middle, but this one was different.
On the other side of the world, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers exploited by the US Army, bunker-buster bombs fall at Iranian nuclear locations.
The American president and his inner circle were gathered to see the mission play.
Disposable cups and blurry binders
The historic meeting was recorded in a series of photos published by the White House, giving the public a rare glimpse in the legendary situations space.
State Secretary Marco Rubio (right) and Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth. ((Delivered: The White House))
With a bright red baseball cap, decorated with his campaign logan ‘Make America Great Again’, the Lord Trump moved through the room with a stony face.
Colorful markers, thick binders, half empty water bottles and disposable cups were spread over the table top.
Cabinet members looked attentively at a screen outside the camera frame.
The room was a WHOs who of the most trusted of Mr. Trump.
When the president was at the head of the table, vice-president JD Vance was literally his right hand. State Secretary Marco Rubio was to the left of Mr. Trump.
The prominent places of the two civil servants at the table perhaps underline the depth of their influence, because Mr Trump had to be deliberately deliberating or Iran for days.
But the president was not always.
Staff chef of the White House Susie Wiles and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. ((Delivered: The White House))
On points, Mr. Trump stood behind his top employee, Susie Wiles, while General Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint staff chefs, spoke.
CIA director John Ratcliffe had a binder and papers for him, although his documents seemed to be, certainly for security reasons.
Other photos can see Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth, national security adviser Andy Baker, and adviser David Warrington of the White House.
CIA director John Ratcliffe looks up as Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth (left) speaks with national security adviser Andy Baker. ((Delivered: The White House))
There were also senior administration officers who were not considered clients. On the back of one photo is then Scavino, the omnipresent deputy Staff Chef of the President.
Trump is always sharp in focus when he is depicted, even if other officials are in the foreground – such as Mr. Hegseeth or MR Vance – gently blurry.
US President Donald Trump next to State Secretary Marco Rubio. ((Delivered: The White House))
Left the guest list?
For political experts, perhaps the most interesting information to be picked up from the scenes is who was not there.
Because the conflict broke out, disagreements within the Trump government were brewed on whether the US would join the attacks of Israel to Iran.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, said in March that the US had no evidence that Iran was developing nuclear weapons.
When he was asked about her comments on Friday, Mr. Trump said, “She was wrong”.
In a next post on X, Mrs. Gabbard said that her testimony from March was taken out of context “as a way to produce division”.
But in the series of the photos of the situation, Gabbard cannot be seen around the table, which means that speculation is being fueled that she is in the outs with the president.
Some journalists have been established in the US reported Mrs. Gabbard was in the room and quoted sources from the White House.
The church room of the churchy situation is where US presidents have made historical decisions with regard to military actions. ((The White House/Carlos Fyfe via Reuters))
A place for historic turning points
The situation room was founded in 1961 in the order of President John F Kennedy after the military invasion of the bay of pigs, aimed at overthrowing the communist government of Fidel Castro, failed due to a lack of current information.
It serves as the primary location for presidents to meet national security advisers, discuss secret activities and work through international security strategies.
Despite his name, the meeting place is more an operational suite than a single room.
Once described by the then secretary of the state of Henry Kissinger as “uncomfortable, unaesthetic and essentially suppressing”, it covers a large part of the bottom floor of the west wing, which extends in the roadside under the outdoor swimming pool of the White House.
Access is tightly checked and generally limited to the information of the president and military advisers.
These are the rooms where history happens.
President Barack Obama was photographed to follow the raid that Osama Bin Laden killed in real time in the situation room. ((White House: Pete Souza))
It was where Mr. Trump monitored the operation in 2019 that was killed in 2019 in the Islamic state leader Abu Bakhdadi; Where President Barack Obama and his team looked at the raid that in 2011 achieved al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; And where President Lyndon Johnson passed the war plans of Vietnam in the 1960s.
Now a new entry can be added to the legendary history of the Situation Room: the moment that the US has bombed Iran.
ABC/AP
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