‘Either there will be peace, or there will be a much greater tragedy for Iran,’ threatens Donald Trump

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WASHINGTON - The United States military leadership and Trump administration officials gave more details on Sunday morning, 22, about the bombing of the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow nuclear plants in Iran , which occurred on Saturday, 21. The current assessment is that the Iranian nuclear program was severely affected by the attack, but not completely eliminated, and that it is too early to determine when or if that might happen.

According to the Pentagon, the use of so-called “bunker-buster” bombs, with an explosive charge of 14 tons and fired at the speed of sound, left extensive destruction at the plant, but the damage was not total.

According to the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, it is still too early to say whether the Iranian nuclear program was destroyed with yesterday's operation, codenamed Midnight Hammer.

Caine also said that assessing the final damage from the attack will take time, but preliminary data indicates that all three sites suffered partial destruction.

In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Vice President JD Vance said Iran's nuclear program has been substantially slowed but not eliminated completely.

“I’m not going to go into classified details about what we saw on the ground in Iran, but we saw a lot and I’m very confident that we substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon,” Vance said. “And that was the goal of this strike.”

The assessment by Vance and the US military leadership differs from statements made yesterday by President Donald Trump, who said in a speech at the White House that Iran's nuclear program had been"obliterated." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave statements more in line with the president's earlier this morning.

During the press conference, which was also attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US officials also stated that the operation was limited and targeted Iran's nuclear program, and was not intended to bring about any"regime change" in Iran.

In the NBC interview, Vance followed suit and tried to ease concerns among Trump's support base about American involvement in a new war in the Middle East.

“We are not at war with Iran. We are at war with Iran’s nuclear program.”

Iran says it will defend itself 'by all means necessary'

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Iran will defend itself by all means necessary, its foreign minister says, following US strikes on key nuclear sites. Credit: AFP

How was the operation?

Operation Midnight Hammer involved the use of 75 precision-guided munitions, including 14 bunker-buster bombs. US fighter jets attacked Iranian air defense installations as part of the operation.

According to the Pentagon, the operation was top secret, with few people within the government knowing of its existence, and also included diversionary tactics.

The B-2 Stealth bombers used in the strike took off from the United States, but other similar fighters were launched from American bases in the Pacific to confuse Iranian defenses.