By AAMER MADHANI, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stated Saturday that the US navy struck three websites in Iran, immediately becoming a member of Israel’s effort to decapitate 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.
There was no rapid acknowledgment from Iran of any strikes being carried out.
The choice to immediately contain the U.S. within the struggle comes after greater than every week of strikes by Israel on Iran which have moved to systematically eradicate the nation’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, whereas damaging its nuclear enrichment services. However U.S. and Israeli officers have stated that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb they alone can carry provided the most effective probability of destroying heavily-fortified websites related 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 stated in a submit 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.”
Israeli air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Leo Correa)
An individual illuminates a light-weight inside a tent whereas spending the night time in a public shelter as a precaution towards doable Iranian missile assaults, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Parnia Rahmanian, 13, lies unconscious in a hospital mattress following Israeli strike that focused her neighborhood, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Vahid Salemi)
Folks shout slogans throughout an anti Israel protest in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, June 21, 2025. The board on the left reads in Turkish: “Get out of Palestine”. (AP Photograph/Francisco Seco)
A protester holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout a rally to indicate solidarity with Iran within the Shi’ite district of Kazimiyah, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Hadi Mizban)
Kids play in a public bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 21, 2025, amid issues over potential Iranian missile assaults. (AP Photograph/Oded Balilty)
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Israeli air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Leo Correa)
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Israeli air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Leo Correa)
An individual illuminates a light-weight inside a tent whereas spending the night time in a public shelter as a precaution towards doable Iranian missile assaults, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Parnia Rahmanian, 13, lies unconscious in a hospital mattress following Israeli strike that focused her neighborhood, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Vahid Salemi)
Folks shout slogans throughout an anti Israel protest in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, June 21, 2025. The board on the left reads in Turkish: “Get out of Palestine”. (AP Photograph/Francisco Seco)
A protester holds a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei throughout a rally to indicate solidarity with Iran within the Shi’ite district of Kazimiyah, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Hadi Mizban)
Kids play in a public bomb shelter in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, June 21, 2025, amid issues over potential Iranian missile assaults. (AP Photograph/Oded Balilty)
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Israeli air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photograph/Leo Correa)
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Trump added in a later submit that he would deal with the nation at 10 p.m. ET, 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 stated B-2 stealth bombers had been used however didn’t specify which kinds of bombs had been dropped. The White Home and Pentagon didn’t instantly elaborate on the operation.
The strikes are a dangerous resolution for the U.S. as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having received the White Home on the promise of retaining America out of expensive overseas conflicts and scoffed on the worth of American interventionism.
Trump informed reporters on Friday that he was not eager about sending floor forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had beforehand indicated that he would make a ultimate selection over the course of two weeks, a timeline that appeared drawn out because the state of affairs was evolving shortly.
Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the US that strikes concentrating on the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” And Iranian Overseas 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 wouldn’t enable Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the specter of drive would deliver the nation’s leaders to surrender its nuclear program peacefully.
Israel’s navy stated Saturday it was making ready for the potential of a prolonged struggle, whereas Iran’s overseas minister warned earlier than the U.S. assault that American navy involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
The prospect of a wider struggle threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen stated they might resume assaults on U.S. vessels within the Purple Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s navy marketing campaign. The Houthis paused such assaults in Could underneath a take care of the U.S.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel introduced the U.S. had begun “assisted departure flights,” the primary from Israel because the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the struggle in Gaza.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at Thursday’s press briefing that Trump had stated: “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” As a substitute, the U.S. president 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 an 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 gasoline enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for U.S. bunker-busting bomb, which makes use of its weight and sheer kinetic drive to succeed in deeply buried targets after which explode. The penetrator is at present solely delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is simply discovered within the American arsenal.
The bomb carries a standard warhead, and is believed to have the ability to penetrate about 200 ft beneath the floor earlier than exploding, and the bombs will 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 chance that nuclear materials might be launched into the realm if the GBU-57 A/B had been used to hit the ability.
Earlier Israeli strikes at one other Iranian nuclear web site, Natanz, on a centrifuge web site have brought on contamination solely on the web site itself, not the encircling space, the IAEA has stated.
Trump’s resolution for direct U.S. navy intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — together with with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed toward persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
For months, Trump stated he was devoted to a diplomatic push to steer Iran to surrender its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and once more in late Could — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry off on navy motion towards Iran and provides diplomacy extra time.
The U.S. in latest days has been shifting navy plane and warships into and across the Center East to guard Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian assaults.
All of the whereas, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the second might be a “second chance” for Iran to make a deal to delivering specific threats on Khamenei and making requires Tehran’s unconditional give up.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump stated 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 navy showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered settlement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and different world powers, created a long-term, complete nuclear settlement that restricted Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in change 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 habits.
Trump has bristled at criticism from a few of his MAGA devoted, together with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who’ve advised that additional U.S. involvement can be a betrayal to supporters who had been drawn to his promise to finish U.S. involvement in costly and countless wars.
Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Related 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.
Initially Printed: June 21, 2025 at 8:00 PM EDT
