The United States has attacked three sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel's war aimed at destroying the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe that prompted fears of a wider regional conflict as Tehran accused Washington of launching "a dangerous war."
US President Donald Trump asserted that Iran's key nuclear sites were "completely and fully obliterated" in an address to the nation from the White House. There was no independent damage assessment."The strikes were a spectacular military success," Trump said in a televised address. In a speech that lasted just over three minutes, Trump said Iran's future held "either peace or tragedy," and there were many other targets that could be hit by the US military.
"If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
Trump posted on Truth Social: "A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. Fordow is gone."
US B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes. There was no independent damage assessment.
The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran confirmed that attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz sites, but it insisted that its nuclear program will not be stopped. Iran and the UNN nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations following the strikes.
It was not clear whether the US would continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a war with Iran for nine days. Trump acted without congressional authorisation, and he warned that there would be additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against US forces.
"There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran," he said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said Washington had "betrayed diplomacy" with the military strikes in support of Israel, and said now "the US has itself launched a dangerous war against Iran."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to resist with full force against US military aggression and the crimes committed by this rogue regime, and to defend Iran's security and national interests," the ministry said in a lengthy statement.
AP Explains: US steps into war between Israel and Iran. – AP
Hours after the American attacks, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a barrage of 40 missiles at Israel, including its Khorramshahr-4, which can carry multiple warheads.
Israeli authorities reported that more than 80 people suffered mostly minor injuries, though one multi-story building in Tel Aviv was significantly damaged, with its entire façade torn away to expose the apartments inside. Houses across the street were almost completely destroyed.
Following the Iranian barrage, Israel's military said it had "swiftly neutralised" the Iranian missile launchers that had fired, and that it had begun a series of strikes toward military targets in western Iran.
The US helped Israel strike Iran's toughest nuclear site
Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Trump and Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat.
US President Donald Trump holds a meeting in the Situation Room at the White House. – Reuters
The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved 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 a 30,000-pound (13,500kg) 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.
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.
"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, using common alternate spellings for two of the sites.
"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!”
Israel announced Sunday that it had closed its airspace to both inbound and outbound flights in the wake of the US attacks.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. US military leaders are scheduled to provide a briefing at 8 a.m. Eastern.
The attack used bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant that is built deep into a mountain, a US official said. The weapons are designed to penetrate the ground before exploding. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Trump for striking Iran. – X/@netanyahu
In addition, US submarines launched about 30 Tomahawk missiles, according to another US official who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency wrote on X that there has been "no increase in off-site radiation levels" after the strikes but that it would continue to monitor the situation.
Trump's turn to strikes departs from some previous statements
The decision to attack was a risky one for Trump, who won the White House partially on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
But Trump also vowed that 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.
For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May — persuaded Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.
After Israel began striking Iran, Trump went 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.
He has bristled at criticism from some supporters who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to those who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.
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,” Netanyahu said.
"History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons," Netanyahu said, adding that the US “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
Fears of a broader war
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the strikes a "dangerous escalation," as world leaders began chiming in with calls for diplomacy.
"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.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who had threatened to resume attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel's military campaign, called on other Muslim nations to form "one front against the Zionist-American arrogance."
The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will "result in irreparable damage for them." And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared "any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region."
The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the US attack that American military involvement "would be very, very dangerous for everyone."
AP explains US strikes on Iran. – AP
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 865 people and wounded 3,396 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group said of those dead, it identified 363 civilians and 215 security force personnel.
Trump's decision for direct US 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.
During his previous administration, Trump pulled the US unilaterally out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, prompting Tehran to begin enriching uranium to higher levels and restrict the access of IAEA inspectors to its facilities.
Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten to resume attacks on US vessels if it joins Israel’s campaign on Iran. – AP
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday’s press briefing that Trump had said: “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next 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.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defences, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel has appealed to Trump for US bunker-busting bombs, the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode.
The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.
It was the first combat use of the weapon.
The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.
Iran's Araghchi says it will be ‘very dangerous’ if US gets involved in war. – AP
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, 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 another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said.
Trump’s decision for direct US 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.
For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice – in April and again in late May – persuaded Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.
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.
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.
B-2 bombers and bunker-busters used in Iran strike
The US Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were involved in strikes on Iran's nuclear sites on Saturday.
The B-2 is one of America's most advanced strategic weapons platforms, capable of entering sophisticated air defences and delivering precision strikes against hardened targets such as Iran's buried network of nuclear research facilities.
B-2 Spirit specifications
The US B-2 costs about $2.1 billion each, making it the most expensive military aircraft ever built.
Made by Northrop Grumman, the bomber, with its cutting-edge stealth technology, began its production run in the late 1980s but was curbed by the fall of the Soviet Union.
Only 21 were made after the Pentagon's planned acquisition program was truncated.
The bomber's range of over 6000 nautical miles (11,112km) without refuelling enables global strike capabilities from continental US bases.
With aerial refuelling, the B-2 can reach virtually any target worldwide, as demonstrated in missions from Missouri to Afghanistan and Libya and now Iran.
Its payload capacity of more than 40,000 pounds (18,144kg) allows the aircraft to carry a diverse array of conventional and nuclear weapons.
The bomber's internal weapons bays are specifically designed to maintain stealth characteristics while accommodating large ordnance loads which could include two GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator), a 30,000-pound precision-guided "bunker buster" bomb.
Reports said six bunker buster bombs were used on Iran's Fordow research site.
The B-2's two-pilot crew configuration reduces personnel requirements while maintaining operational effectiveness through advanced automation systems.
The B-2's stealth technology incorporates radar-absorbing materials and angular design features that minimise detection by enemy air defence systems.
Its radar cross-section is reportedly comparable to that of a small bird, making it nearly invisible to conventional radar.
Massive ordnance penetrator (MOP)
The 30,000-pound MOP represents the largest conventional bomb in the US arsenal, specifically engineered to defeat hardened underground bunkers.
Its massive size requires the B-2 to carry only one or two MOPs per mission, but provides unmatched bunker-penetration capability.
The weapon's 20.5-foot (6.25-m) length and GPS-guided precision targeting system enable accurate strikes against specific underground facilities.
Its penetration capability of over 200 feet through hardened concrete makes it effective against the world's most protected underground installations.
Conventional payloads
Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) provide the B-2 with precision conventional strike capability against fixed targets.
These GPS-guided weapons can be deployed in large numbers, with the bomber capable of simultaneously engaging multiple targets with high accuracy.
Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW) extend the aircraft's engagement range while maintaining stealth characteristics during approach.
These glide bombs allow the B-2 to strike targets from outside heavily defended airspace perimeters.
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) offer long-range precision strike capability with their own stealth features. The extended-range JASSM-ER variant provides strike options against targets over 500 miles (805 km) away.
Nuclear payload capabilities
The B-2 Spirit serves as a key component of America's nuclear triad, capable of delivering strategic nuclear weapons with stealth and precision.
The aircraft can carry up to 16 B83 nuclear bombs.