The US military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into Israel’s war aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.
President Donald Trump said Iran’s key nuclear sites were “completely and fully obliterated,” and he warned Iran against carrying out retaliatory attacks, saying the US could hit more targets “with precision, speed and skill”.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed that attacks took place on its Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz sites, but it insisted that its work will not be stopped.
The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country’s air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) 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.”
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!”
Iran said early Sunday there were “no signs of contamination” at either facility.
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.
“There is no danger to the residents living around the aforementioned sites,” the statement added.
Israel hails US strikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised 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. Netanyahu said the US “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 shortly after 9pm Eastern that he had spoken with Trump and that six bunker buster bombs were used on the Fordow facility. Hannity said 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by US submarines 400 miles away struck the Iranian nuclear sites of Natanz and Isfahan.
The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the US joined the Israeli assault, and for 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.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he was “gravely alarmed” by the “dangerous escalation” of American strikes.
“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.
Trump told reporters Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do”. He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks.
Prospect of wider war
The prospect of a wider war loomed. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US 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 US.
The US ambassador to Israel announced that the US had begun “assisted departure flights”, the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
On Sunday, Israel’s Airport Authority announced it was closing the country’s airspace to both inbound and outbound flights “due to recent developments” and did not say for how long.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump planned to make his decision on the strikes within two weeks. Instead, he struck just two days later.
Trump 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.
All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a “second chance” for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran’s unconditional surrender.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a social media posting. “He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”
The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever”.
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, US and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran’s non-nuclear malign behaviour.
Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.
