President Donald Trump said the US military struck three Iranian nuclear sites as the United States entered the conflict between Israel and Iran, raising fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
Trump announced the “spectacular military success” on June 21, saying US bombers hit nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan in a joint effort with Israel to destroy Iran’s nuclear program after diplomacy failed to get Tehran to return to the negotiating table.
“Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise,” Trump said in an address to the nation from the White House.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”
Trump, who just two days ago said he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join Israel in its effort to destroy Iranian nuclear sites, claimed the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities.
“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not future attack will be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said, speaking with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth standing directly behind him. Iran’s future holds “either peace or tragedy,” the president said, noting that many targets remain.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called the attacks “outrageous” and warned that they “will have everlasting consequences” in a post on X.
“Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior,” he said, adding that Iran “reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalation.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” Guterres said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the “bold” US strikes, calling the attack a historic moment that could lead the Middle East to peace.
“Congratulations, President Trump. Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history,” Netanyahu said in a video address.
“President Trump and I often say, peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace,” Netanyahu said.
US Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) also welcomed the attacks.
“This was the right call. The regime deserves it. Well done, President Trump,” Graham posted on X.
The decision to strike Iran could be a politically perilous move for Trump, who won the White House last year on the promise of keeping America out of foreign conflicts. Some members of his Make America Great Again coalition had urged Trump not to directly involve the US military in attacks on Iran.
‘Fordow is gone.’
Reports earlier on June 21 said that US B-2 stealth bombers — which are capable of carrying so-called 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker-busting bombs — were headed out of the United States and flying across the Pacific Ocean.
US and Israeli officials had previously said that the United States was the only country that could carry out a strike on Iranian nuclear sites buried deep underground.
After the attack was carried out, Trump claimed in a social media post reposted on X by Open Source Intel that “Fordow is gone.”
A spokesman for Qom Province said part of the Fordow facility was attacked by “enemy airstrikes.”
Downplaying the strikes, Iranian state TV said nuclear material had been removed from the three sites before they were struck.
Mehdi Mohammadi, a senior adviser to the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said Iran had been anticipating attacks on Fordow for several nights.
“The site has been evacuated for a long time and has not suffered irreversible damage in the attack. Two things are certain: first, knowledge is not bombarded, and second, the gambler will lose this time,” Mohammadi said on X.
Iran’s atomic energy organization confirmed that the country’s nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan were attacked “by the enemies.”
It said the attacks were “barbaric” and violates international law, adding that it will not allow its “national industry” to be stopped.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attended a ceremony earlier this month in Tehran. (File photo)
Iran’s nuclear regulatory authority said there was no danger to residents living around the targeted nuclear sites, and Saudi Arabia’s regulator said no radioactive traces had been detected in the kingdom or in the Arab Gulf states as a result of the strikes.
Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched an aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies its nuclear program is seeking an atomic bomb.
Brett McGurk, a former member of the US National Security Council, said the use of the bunker-busting bomb — formally known as a massive ordinance penetrator — is “a first in military history,” pointing out that it is a weapon “designed for a target like Fordow.”
He stressed in comments to CNN that the mission was about hitting the three nuclear sites and not about regime change.
“The message here going out to the region and to Tehran is this is about the nuclear facilities. This is not an expanded mission set. And it can stop here,” he said.
Richard Haass, a former high-ranking US diplomat and a former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said it will be interesting to learn why Trump chose to launch the attack when he did.
“Lost confidence in diplomacy? Worried Iran was moving nuclear assets? Or was the 2 week pause a tactic all along? Hope latter not the case, as it discredits US diplomacy across the board going forward,” Haass said on X.
Israeli air strikes have targeted sites in Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran that is home to a large ethnic Azeri population.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier on June 21 that Iran would not halt its nuclear program “under any circumstances,” and Araqchi warned that US military involvement in it “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
Araqchi, speaking on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey, said Iran was open to further dialogue but emphasized that Iran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian said Iran was “ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities.”
“However, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” he added, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
(RFE/RL)
