The US army struck three websites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into Israel ’s battle geared toward destroying the nation’s nuclear program in a dangerous gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s menace of reprisals that might spark a wider regional battle.
President Donald Trump stated Iran’s key nuclear websites had been “fully and absolutely obliterated,” and he warned Iran in opposition to finishing up retaliatory assaults, saying the US might hit extra targets “with precision, pace and ability.”
“There’ll both be peace or there can be tragedy for Iran, far higher than we’ve witnessed during the last eight days,” Trump stated in an handle to the nation from the White Home. The Atomic Vitality Group of Iran confirmed that assaults came about on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz websites, nevertheless it insisted that its work won’t be stopped.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025
The choice to straight contain the US within the battle comes after greater than per week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the nation’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, whereas damaging its nuclear enrichment services. However US and Israeli officers have stated that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry provided one of the best probability of destroying closely fortified websites related to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
“We’ve accomplished our very profitable assault on the three Nuclear websites in Iran, together with Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump stated in a publish on social media. “All planes at the moment are outdoors of Iran air house. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the first web site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their means dwelling.”
Trump added in a later publish: “That 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 Trump’s choice to assault in a video message directed on the American president.
“Your daring choice to focus on Iran’s nuclear services, with the superior and righteous may of america, will change historical past,” he stated. Netanyahu stated the US “has achieved what no different nation on earth might do.”
The White Home and Pentagon didn’t instantly elaborate on the operation. However Fox Information host Sean Hannity stated shortly after 9 p.m. Jap that he had spoken with Trump and that six bunker buster bombs had been used on the Fordo facility. Hannity stated 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by US submarines 400 miles away struck the Iranian nuclear websites of Natanz and Isfahan.
The strikes are a dangerous choice, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the US joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally. He received the White Home on the promise of protecting America out of pricey international conflicts and scoffed on the worth of American interventionism.
UN Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres stated that he was “gravely alarmed” by the “harmful escalation” of American strikes.
“There’s a rising threat that this battle might quickly get uncontrolled — with catastrophic penalties for civilians, the area, and the world,” he stated in an announcement.
Trump informed reporters Friday that he was not fascinated by sending floor forces into Iran, saying it’s “the very last thing you wish to do.” He had beforehand indicated that he would make a closing selection over the course of two weeks.
Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned america on Wednesday that strikes concentrating on the Islamic Republic will “lead to irreparable harm for them.” And Iranian Overseas Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American intervention can be a recipe for an all-out battle within the area.
“Trump has vowed that he wouldn’t enable Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and he had initially hoped that the specter of power would convey the nation’s leaders to surrender its nuclear program peacefully.
The Israeli army stated Saturday it was getting ready for the potential of a prolonged battle, whereas Iran’s international minister warned earlier than the US assault that American army involvement “can be very, very harmful for everybody.”
The prospect of a wider battle loomed. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen stated they might resume assaults on US vessels within the Purple Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel’s army marketing campaign. The Houthis paused such assaults in Might below a take care of the US.
The US ambassador to Israel introduced that the US had begun “assisted departure flights,” the primary from Israel for the reason that Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the battle in Gaza.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Thursday that Trump deliberate to make his choice on the strikes inside two weeks. As a substitute, he struck simply two days later.
Trump seems to have made the calculation — on the prodding of Israeli officers and lots of Republican lawmakers — that Israel’s operation had softened the bottom and offered a maybe unparalleled alternative to set again Iran’s nuclear program, maybe completely.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses, permitting them to already considerably degrade a number of Iranian nuclear websites.
However to destroy the Fordo nuclear gas enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the bunker-busting American bomb often known as the GBU-57 Huge Ordnance Penetrator, which makes use of its weight and sheer kinetic power to succeed in deeply buried targets after which explode. The bomb is presently delivered solely by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is simply discovered within the American arsenal.
If deployed within the assault, it will be the primary fight use of the weapon.
The bomb carries a standard warhead, and is believed to have the ability to penetrate about 200 ft (61 meters) under the floor earlier than exploding, and the bombs may be dropped one after one other, successfully drilling deeper and deeper with every successive blast.
The Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company has confirmed that Iran is producing extremely enriched uranium at Fordo, elevating the likelihood that nuclear materials might be launched into the world if the GBU-57 A/B had been used to hit the power. Earlier Israeli strikes at one other Iranian nuclear web site, Natanz, on a centrifuge web site have induced contamination solely on the web site itself, not the encircling space, the IAEA has stated.
Trump’s choice for direct US army intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — together with with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — geared toward persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
For months, Trump stated he was devoted to a diplomatic push to influence Iran to surrender its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and once more in late Might — persuaded Netanyahu to carry off on army motion in opposition to Iran and provides diplomacy extra time.
The US in latest days has been shifting army plane and warships into and across the Center East to guard Israel and US bases from Iranian assaults.
All of the whereas, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the second might be a “second probability” for Iran to make a deal to delivering express threats on Khamenei and making requires Tehran’s unconditional give up.
“We all know precisely the place the so-called ‘Supreme Chief’ is hiding,” Trump stated in a social media posting. “He’s a straightforward goal, however is secure there – We aren’t going to take him out (kill!), no less than not for now.”
The army showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-administration brokered settlement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, US and different world powers, created a long-term, complete nuclear settlement that restricted Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in trade for the lifting of financial sanctions.
Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran an excessive amount of in return for too little, as a result of the settlement didn’t cowl Iran’s non-nuclear malign conduct.
Trump has bristled at criticism from a few of his MAGA trustworthy, together with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who’ve recommended that additional US involvement can be a betrayal to supporters who had been drawn to his promise to finish US involvement in costly and infinite wars.