The United States struck three key nuclear sites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into an Israeli war aimed at weakening its longtime foe by destroying its nuclear program despite fears of a wider regional conflict.
Addressing the nation from the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that the three nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were “completely and fully obliterated.” There was no independent damage assessment.
It was not clear whether the U.S. would continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a nine-day war with Iran. Mr. Trump warned Iran that any reprisals against the U.S. would be met with additional strikes.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,” he said.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed that attacks took place on the three sites, but it insisted that its work will not be stopped.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Sunday that the U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites “will have everlasting consequences” and that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate. His post on the social platform X was the first comment on the attacks by a ranking official. “The events this morning are outrageous,” Mr. Araghchi wrote.
Iran said there were “no signs of contamination” at the sites following the U.S. airstrikes. Iranian state media quoted the country’s National Nuclear Safety System Center, which published a statement saying its radiation detectors had recorded no radioactive release after the strikes.
The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of Israeli strikes that aimed to systematically eradicate Iran’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on social media. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
Mr. Trump added in a later post: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr. Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed at the American president.
“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said. Mr. Netanyahu said the U.S. “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. But Fox News host Sean Hannity said he had spoken with the president and that six bunker-buster bombs were used on the Fordow facility. Mr. Hannity said 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by U.S. submarines 400 miles away struck Natanz and Isfahan.
“Dangerous escalation”
The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the U.S. joined the Israeli assault, and for Mr. Trump personally. He won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he was “gravely alarmed” by the “dangerous escalation.”
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Trump told reporters Friday he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had previously indicated he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared that “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.”
Mr. Trump has vowed he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully.
Prospect of wider war
The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war.
The prospect of a wider war loomed. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the U.S.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced that the U.S. had begun “assisted departure flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
But early Sunday Israel’s Airport Authority announced it was closing the country’s airspace to both inbound and outbound flights for an indetermined period “due to recent developments.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Mr. Trump planned to make his decision on the strikes within two weeks. Instead, he struck just two days later.
The president appears to have made the calculation – at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers – that Israel’s operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps permanently.
The Israelis say their offensive has already incapacitated Iran’s air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Mr. Trump for the bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.
If deployed in the attack, it would be the first combat use of the weapon.
The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.
Fear of contamination
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordow, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility.
Previous Israeli strikes at the Natanz site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said.
Mr. Trump’s decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push – including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians – aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
Twice – in April and again in late May – Mr. Trump persuaded Mr. Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.
The U.S. in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks.
