U.S. strikes Iran’s nuclear facilities
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U.S. bombs three Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says: Live updates
Bannon said he doubted that Trump would want to get bogged down in a protracted foreign conflict if it comes at the expense of his domestic agenda. “We have now become a combatant in this war between Israel and the Persians. I guess you say it’s now a broader war,” he said.
Bannon, speaking via his “War Room” podcast livestream, said he doubted that Trump would want to get bogged down in a protracted foreign conflict if it comes at the expense of his domestic agenda, including his sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.
“We have now become a combatant in this war between Israel and the Persians. I guess you say it’s now a broader war, although it looks like the president is trying to keep this to a very tactical strike,” Bannon said. He added that in the U.S., “an overwhelming majority of the people don’t want to get involved in any of this. Now, we’re involved.”
Bannon, who was a senior White House adviser in Trump’s first term, met with the president for lunch at the White House on Thursday, the same day Trump said through a spokeswoman that he would make a decision on joining the attack on Iran within two weeks.
U.S. Bombs Iran Live Updates: Trump Says America Has Struck Three Nuclear Sites
The U.S. attacked three of Iran’s nuclear sites: Fordow , Natanz and Isfahan. The three sites represent the core of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure. Trump followed up his announcement of the strikes with a call for a return to diplomacy. The strikes drew sharp criticism from some lawmakers, renewing calls for a vote to rein in the White House.
President Trump said on social media the U.S. attacked three of Iran’s nuclear sites: Fordow , Natanz and Isfahan. The three sites the U.S. hit represent the core of the Iranian nuclear infrastructure . Trump followed up his announcement of the strikes with a call for a return to diplomacy.
The president said he will address the nation at 10 p.m. ET
What else to know:
Earlier today, U.S. officials said multiple B-2 stealth bombers were heading west over the Pacific. The bombers can carry giant “bunker busting” bombs.
On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country wouldn’t surrender. Iran had threatened to strike at American troops around the region in the event the U.S. got involved in the conflict.
The top two GOP leaders in Congress were briefed on the planned Iran attacks ahead of time. The strikes drew sharp criticism from some lawmakers, renewing calls for a vote to rein in the White House.
The U.N. atomic energy chief has warned of safety risks coming from attacking nuclear sites, but nuclear experts say the risk of a serious incident involving the enrichment facilities is very low.
Live updates: Trump announces air strikes on nuclear sites in Iran as conflict enters second week
The sites are Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, which lie at the heart of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Much is still unknown about the full size and nature of this facility. The main halls are an estimated 80 to 90 meters (around 262 to 295 feet) beneath the ground. The US is the only country with the kind of bomb required to strike that deep, Israeli officials and independent reports have previously said. The facility now contains 2,700 centrifuges, according to experts and the IAEA.
Here’s what we know about the three facilities:
Natanz: The nuclear complex, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital Tehran, is considered Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility.
Analysts say it is used to develop and assemble centrifuges for uranium enrichment, a key technology that turns uranium into nuclear fuel.
Natanz has six above-ground buildings and three underground structures, two of which can hold 50,000 centrifuges, according to the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity at its above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to 90%.
Fordow: Much is still unknown about the full size and nature of this facility, located close to the holy city of Qom and buried deep in a group of mountains. A good chunk of what we do know comes from a trove of Iranian documents stolen years ago by Israeli intelligence.
The main halls are an estimated 80 to 90 meters (around 262 to 295 feet) beneath the ground. The US is the only country with the kind of bomb required to strike that deep, Israeli officials and independent reports have previously said.
Recent IAEA reports suggested Iran had ramped up production of enriched uranium to a level of 60% at Fordow. The facility now contains 2,700 centrifuges, according to experts and the IAEA.
Isfahan: Isfahan, in central Iran, is home to the country’s largest nuclear research complex.
The facility was built with support from China and opened in 1984, according to the NTI. According to NTI, 3,000 scientists are employed at Isfahan, and the site is “suspected of being the center” of Iran’s nuclear program.
It “operates three small Chinese-supplied research reactors,” as well as a “conversion facility, a fuel production plant, a zirconium cladding plant, and other facilities and laboratories,” the NTI says.
US strikes Iranian nuclear sites
The Fordo uranium enrichment facility near Qom is one of Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear sites. The Fordo facility is buried deep underground and designed to resist conventional airstrikes. Iran had previously warned that direct U.S. involvement in its conflict with Israel would trigger “irreparable consequences” The strikes came amid rising regional tensions since hostilities erupted on June 13, when Israel launched a wave of airstrikes.
Trump said U.S. warplanes struck the Fordo uranium enrichment facility near Qom — one of Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear sites — as well as installations at Natanz and Esfahan.
He confirmed that all American aircraft safely exited Iranian airspace following the operation.
“All planes are safely on their way home,” Trump said in a post on social media.
“Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
The Fordo facility is buried deep underground and designed to resist conventional airstrikes, making it a symbolic and strategic target. Its destruction would mark one of the most significant blows to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in over a decade.Iran had previously warned that direct U.S. involvement in its ongoing conflict with Israel would trigger “irreparable consequences.”Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and denies any intent to develop nuclear weapons.The strikes came amid rising regional tensions since hostilities erupted on June 13, when Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Iranian territory, targeting military and nuclear sites.Iran responded with missile barrages that have caused casualties on both sides.Iran’s Health Ministry said at least 430 people have been killed and over 3,500 wounded in Israeli strikes across the country.Israeli officials reported that 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured by Iranian missile attacks.While Trump has emphasized his desire to avoid a prolonged war, he has consistently vowed that the U.S. will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.Saturday’s strike marks the most direct American military action in the conflict so far and signals a potential turning point in the widening regional war. — Agencies
US has struck 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air campaign
NEW: U.S. ambassador to Israel announces “assisted departure flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks targeted three nuclear sites. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government of any strikes being carried out. Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify what types of bombs were dropped.. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.” 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 Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran warned that American military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone”
There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government of any strikes being carried out. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks targeted the country’s Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate.
The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country’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 (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 that he would address the nation at 10 p.m. Eastern time, writing “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!”
Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify what types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.
The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the U.S. 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.
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.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 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.”
Trump has 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.
The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
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.
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.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to 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 (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.
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 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.
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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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.
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 U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. 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 behavior.
Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.
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Madhani reported from Washington. Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Josh Boak in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/06/21/us-strike-iran-nuclear-israel-trump