Trump says US has attacked three Iranian nuclear sites
The United States has attacked three Iranian nuclear sites, President Donald Trump says, joining an Israeli air campaign as Tehran promises to retaliate.
The move means the US has directly joined Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.
Follow 1News' live updates for the latest developments
In a post on social media, Trump announced the apparent military strike.
He wrote: "We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.
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"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.
"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 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. 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.
The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joins the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
More to come
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Israel says it's preparing for possibility of lengthy war
Earlier, Israel's military said it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war after it announced it had struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks.
The prospect of a wider war was threatened, too.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels and warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel's military campaign against Iran. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US.
The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first such flights from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
Parnia Rahmanian, 13, lies unconscious in a hospital bed following Israeli strike that targeted her neighborhood, in Tehran (Source: Associated Press)
Inside Iran, smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province's deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes damaged the facility but caused no casualties.
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The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel's military said. Isfahan was also hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the latest attack.
Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters, called it a 'small barrage' that was largely intercepted by Israel's defences.
The official estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than 50% of Iran's launchers.
'We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,' he said.
'Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.'
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The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a 'prolonged campaign."
Iran says US military involvement would be 'dangerous'
Trump was previously weighing up active US military involvement in the war.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, 'I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone.'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi listens to speeches as he attends the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting, in Istanbul (Source: Associated Press)
He spoke on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey.
Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on military involvement for up to two weeks.
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The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists.
At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran, and more than 2500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.
One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment.
'I've had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,' she said Saturday.
Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when 'something blew up right in front of me' at an intersection.
A number of Iranians fled the country. 'Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,' said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia.
Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates.
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Israel's multitiered air defences have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.
A person illuminates a light inside a tent while spending the night in a public shelter as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv (Source: Associated Press)
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program, but has never acknowledged it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military operation will continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal.
No date set for new talks
While talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough, Iran's foreign minister said he was open to further dialogue. He emphasised that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
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No date was set for a new round of talks.
For many Iranians, updates remained difficult. Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said Saturday that limited internet access had again 'collapsed.'
A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place for several days.
More attacks on Iranian military commanders
Israel's defence minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in Gaza.
Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed.
Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while travelling in western Iran, the military said.
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Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog
Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program prompted Israel's attack.
On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi 'pay' once the war is over.
Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr.
'In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,' Grossi said, adding: 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.'
Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief.
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But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program.
But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether.
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NZ Herald
18 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Prime Minister Luxon, Peters to speak on US-Iran tensions as NZ sends plane to Middle East
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has yet to make his position on the US attacks on Iran known as it prepares to send a defence force plane to the Middle East. Yesterday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Government was still assembling 'the facts' of the US attack on several Iranian nuclear sites before stating New Zealand's view. Luxon will speak on Newstalk ZB just after 7.37am when he calls in from Europe, where he is about to attend the Nato summit in the Hague. You can listen to the interview live from the below link: Earlier, Labour Party defence spokesman Peeni Henare, who supports the Defence Force deployment, called for the Government to declare the US bombings are in breach of international law. had carried out a 'very successful attack' on three Iran nuclear sites. Trump said the objective was to put a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's 'number one state sponsor of terror', and accused Iran of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. He claimed there are 'many targets left', and if peace was not achieved, the US would target them with 'speed, precision and skill'. Speaking from the Whenuapai airbase yesterday alongside Defence Minister Judith Collins, Peters said a C-130J Hercules plane containing Defence Force and Foreign Affairs personnel would take off from Whenuapai today and would be based in the Middle East. The pair's statement didn't clarify where the Hercules would be based, nor the range of personnel travelling. It was expected to take several days to reach its destination. The deployment was intended to aid evacuation flights should the airspace around Iran and Israel become less restricted, which could take 'weeks', according to Peters. He noted discussions with commercial airlines were ongoing, but repeated his advice that Kiwis should leave the region if they could do so safely. All New Zealanders in the Middle East, not just in Iran and Israel, were urged to register on SafeTravel. New Zealanders in Iran and Israel needing urgent consular assistance should call the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emergency consular call centre on +64 99 20 20 20. About 180 New Zealanders had registered as residing in either Israel or Iran, much higher than reported earlier this week. Peters said people were 'coming out of the woodwork' amid ongoing attacks.
RNZ News
32 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Strikes on Iran mark Trump's biggest, and riskiest, foreign policy gamble
By Matt Spetalnick , Reuters US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski Analysis - With his unprecedented decision to bomb Iran's nuclear sites , directly joining Israel's air attack on its regional arch foe, US President Donald Trump has done something he had long vowed to avoid - intervene militarily in a major foreign war. The dramatic US strike , including the targeting of Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear installation deep underground, marks the biggest foreign policy gamble of Trump's two presidencies and one fraught with risks and unknowns. Trump, who insisted on Saturday (US Time) that Iran must now make peace or face further attacks, could provoke Tehran into retaliating by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil artery, attacking US military bases and allies in the Middle East, stepping up its missile barrage on Israel and activating proxy groups against American and Israeli interests worldwide, analysts said. Such moves could escalate into a broader, more protracted conflict than Trump had envisioned, evoking echoes of the "forever wars" that America fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he had derided as "stupid" and promised never to be dragged into. "The Iranians are seriously weakened and degraded in their military capabilities," former Middle East negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations Aaron David Miller said. "But they have all sorts of asymmetric ways that they can respond... This is not going to end quick." In the lead-up to the bombing that he announced late on Saturday (US Time), Trump had vacillated between threats of military action and appeals for renewed negotiation to persuade Iran to reach a deal to dismantle its nuclear programme. A senior White House official said that once Trump was convinced that Tehran had no interest in reaching a nuclear agreement, he decided the strikes were "the right thing to do". Trump gave the go-ahead once he was assured of a "high probability of success", the official said - a determination reached after more than a week of Israeli air attacks on Iran's nuclear and military facilities paved the way for the US to deliver the potentially crowning blow. This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. Photo: AFP / Satellite Image Maxar Technologies Trump touted the "great success" of the strikes, which he said included the use of massive "bunker-buster bombs" on the main site at Fordow. But some experts suggested that while Iran's nuclear programme may have been set back for many years, the threat may be far from over. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, and said its programme was for purely peaceful purposes. "In the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy," the Arms Control Association - a non-partisan US-based organisation that advocates for arms control legislation - said in a statement. "Military strikes alone cannot destroy Iran's extensive nuclear knowledge. The strikes will set Iran's programme back, but at the cost of strengthening Tehran's resolve to reconstitute its sensitive nuclear activities," the group said. Assistant professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, Eric Lob, said Iran's next move remains an open question and suggested that among its forms of retaliation could be to hit "soft targets" of the US and Israel inside and outside the region. But he also said there was a possibility that Iran could return to the negotiating table - "though they would be doing so in an even weaker position" - or seek a diplomatic off-ramp. In the immediate aftermath of the US strikes, however, Iran showed little appetite for concessions. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said it would not allow development of its "national industry" to be stopped, and an Iranian state television commentator said every US citizen or military member in the region would now be legitimate targets. Early on Sunday (US Time), Iran's foreign ministry issued a statement warning that Tehran "considers it its right to resist with all its might against US military aggression". Analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Karim Sadjadpour posted on X: "Trump indicated this is now the time for peace. It's unclear and unlikely the Iranians will see it the same way. This is more likely to open a new chapter of the 46-year-old US-Iran war than conclude it." Some analysts suggested that Trump, whose administration has previously disavowed any aim of dislodging the Iranian leadership, could be drawn into seeking "regime change" if Tehran carries out major reprisals or moves to build a nuclear weapon. That, in turn, would bring additional risks. "Beware mission creep, aiming for regime change and democratisation campaigns," Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington Laura Blumenfeld said. "You'll find the bones of many failed US moral missions buried in Middle East sands." Former US deputy intelligence officer for the Middle East Jonathan Panikoff said Iran's leadership would quickly engage in "disproportionate attacks" if it felt its survival was imperilled. But Tehran would also have to be mindful of the consequences, he said. While actions such as closing the Strait of Hormuz would pose problems for Trump with the resulting higher oil prices and potential US inflationary impact, it would also hurt China, one of Iran's few powerful allies . At the same time, Trump is already facing strong push-back from congressional Democrats against the Iran attack and will also have to contend with opposition from the anti-interventionist wing of his Republican MAGA base. Trump, who faced no major international crisis in his first term, is now embroiled in one just six months into his second. Even if he hopes US military involvement can be limited in time and scope, the history of such conflicts often carries unintended consequences for American presidents. Trump's slogan of "peace through strength" will certainly be tested as never before, especially with his opening of a new military front after failing to meet his campaign promises to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza. "Trump is back in the war business," UN director at the International Crisis Group Richard Gowan said. "I am not sure anyone in Moscow, Tehran or Beijing ever believed his spiel that he is a peacemaker. It always looked more like a campaign phrase than a strategy." - Reuters
Otago Daily Times
33 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
World awaits Iran response to US strikes
The world is bracing for Iran's response after the U.S. attacked key Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution. With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound U.S. bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site, Tehran vowed to defend itself at all costs. It fired another volley of missiles at Israel that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv. The U.S. State Department ordered employees' family members to leave Lebanon and advised citizens elsewhere in the region to keep a low profile or restrict travel. An advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of a "heightened threat environment in the United States." Law enforcement in major U.S. cities stepped up patrols and deployed additional resources to religious, cultural and diplomatic sites. Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States - either by targeting U.S. bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies - but that may not hold. Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said. "The U.S. showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force," he said. Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on X that the initiative was "now with the side that plays smart, avoids blind strikes. Surprises will continue!" U.S. President Donald Trump, in a televised address, called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated." But his own officials gave more nuanced assessments and - with the exception of satellite photographs appearing to show craters on the mountain above Iran's subterranean plant at Fordow - there has been no public accounting of the damage. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the U.S. strikes. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the claim. Trump immediately called on Iran to forgo any retaliation, saying the government "must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier," he said. 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Security experts have long warned a weakened Iran could also find other unconventional ways to strike back, such as bombings or cyberattacks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview on "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo," warned Iran against retaliation for the U.S. strikes, saying such action would be "the worst mistake they've ever made." Rubio separately told CBS's "Face the Nation" talk show that the U.S. has "other targets we can hit, but we achieved our objective." "There are no planned military operations right now against Iran," he later added, "unless they mess around." The U.N. Security Council was due to meet later on Sunday, diplomats said, at the request of Iran, which urged the 15-member body "to address this blatant and unlawful act of (US) aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms." DIVERGING WAR AIMS Israeli officials, who began the hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, have increasingly spoken of their ambition to topple the hardline Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since 1979. U.S. officials, many of whom witnessed Republican President George W. Bush's popularity collapse following his disastrous intervention in Iraq in 2003, have stressed that they were not working to overthrow Iran's government. "This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon. "The president authorised a precision operation to neutralise the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear programme." Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said on NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" program that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told him his country would no longer endure being under missile attack. "They're not going to live under threat from Iran anymore," Graham said. "Israel's made a decision. This regime is going to change in one of two ways: they're going to change their behavior, which I doubt, the regime itself, or the people are going to replace the regime.' Iranians contacted by Reuters described their fear at the prospect of an enlarged war involving the United States. "Our future is dark. We have nowhere to go - it's like living in a horror movie," Bita, 36, a teacher from the central city of Kashan, said before the phone line was cut. Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10 million people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment. Iranian authorities say more than 400 people have been killed since Israel's attacks began, mostly civilians. Israel's bombardment has scythed through much of Iran's military leadership with strikes targeted at bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept. Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days, the first time its projectiles have penetrated Israel's defences in large numbers. The elite Revolutionary Guards said they had fired 40 missiles at Israel in the latest volley overnight. Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people to safe rooms. In Tel Aviv, Aviad Chernovsky, 40, emerged from a bomb shelter to find his house had been destroyed in a direct hit. "It's not easy to live now in Israel (right now), but we are very strong. We know that we will win,' he said.
