Donald Trump said the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran, joining Israel’s attacks on the country and drawing America into another war in the Middle East.
The president said US planes dropped bombs on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in an effort to disable the Islamic republic’s nuclear enrichment capability and set back its alleged pursuit of an atomic weapon.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said in a late-night address to the nation.
Trump said Iran now needed to “make peace” and threatened more intense attacks on the Islamic republic if it did not.
“Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said.
“This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left.”
Trump’s decision to strike Iran escalates the conflict in the Middle East, which has been in turmoil since Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023. It comes just over a week after Israel launched missiles at Iran and Tehran hit back by striking targets in Israel.
The attack brings the risk of Iranian retaliation against the US, especially on military bases and ships in the region, along with potential disruption to oil supplies from the world’s most important energy producing region.
On X on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US of committing “a grave violation of the UN Charter”. “The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” he wrote.
“Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people,” Araghchi added.
In a letter to the UN secretary-general, Iran also called for an emergency meeting of the security council.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heaped praise on Trump’s “bold decision”, saying the US strikes against Iran would “change history”.
“In tonight’s action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on Earth could do,” he said.
But Israeli authorities also took defensive measures, completely shutting down the airspace and putting the home front on “essential” activity, in a sign that Iranian retaliation was expected. Both restrictions had been partially lifted in recent days.
The US attacks mark a major turning point for Trump, who campaigned for his second term on a pledge to be a peacemaker who ended “forever wars”.
It is a political gamble for the president, whose Maga base is divided between hawks and those who believe the US should stay out of foreign conflicts.
Announcing the attacks earlier on Saturday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the planes had dropped “a full payload of BOMBS” on Fordow, and were all safely on their way home.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Sunday: “Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat.”
“The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority,” he added. “We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”
Iranian officials confirmed the strike on three nuclear sites, according to state media.
American “bunker-buster” bombs carried by the B-2 were considered the best chance of destroying Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, which is buried deep under a mountain.
The bombing raid comes after two decades of debate in the US about whether to attack Iran, and seven years after Trump pulled his country out of a nuclear pact with Tehran agreed by President Barack Obama.
Trump said on Saturday that he had discussed the attacks with Netanyahu, who has urged the US to attack Iran’s nuclear sites for years.
“We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel,” Trump said.
Iran’s adviser to the speaker of parliament said Tehran had been anticipating an attack on Fordow.
“From Iran’s perspective, nothing too strange has happened,” Mahdi Mohammadi wrote on X.
“For several nights, Iran has been waiting for an attack on Fordow. The site has been evacuated for a while now and has not faced irreversible damage from the attack.”
After initially appearing to distance himself from the conflict, Trump deliberated in recent days over whether to involve the US military in Israel’s effort to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme.
On Thursday he had appeared to offer Iran a two-week window to reach a diplomatic solution.
Joseph Votel, a retired general who led US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said Trump and his team had engaged in an effort to conceal the timing of the attack, including the president’s two-week timeline.
“It is pretty clear that there has been a deception plan in place,” said Votel who served as Centcom commander for two years of Trump’s first term.
Earlier on Saturday, B-2 stealth bombers appeared to be flying to Guam from their base in Missouri. It was unclear whether those bombers conducted the attacks on Iran or whether bombers were deployed from Diego Garcia.
Republican foreign policy hawks in Congress cheered the president’s military move. US senator Lindsey Graham said “this was the right call” while Senator Jim Risch, chair of the influential Senate foreign relations committee, backed Trump’s “decisive action” to assist Israel.
But some critics of the president said he had stepped beyond his constitutional authority.
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv
