US does not seek war, says Pentagon after bombing Iran's nuclear sites
America 'does not seek war' with Iran, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has said in the aftermath of a surprise US attack on three of Tehran's key nuclear sites.
The mission, called Operation Midnight Hammer, involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, Mr Hegseth and US Air Force General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference on Sunday.
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Mr Hegseth said it is important to note the US strikes did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people, a veiled effort to indicate to Tehran they do not want retaliation on American targets in the region.
'This mission was not and has not been about regime change,' Mr Hegseth added.
Mr Caine said the goal of the operation – destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan – had been achieved. US President Donald Trump earlier claimed the facilities had been 'completely and fully obliterated'.
'Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,' Mr Caine said.
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The operation inserted the United States into Israel's war aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear programme, though the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran insisted the programme will not be stopped.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned the US attacks, while foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned diplomacy is no longer an option.
'This aggression showed that the United States is the primary instigator of the Zionist regime's hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran,' Mr Pezeshkian said on Sunday.
'Although they initially tried to deny their role, after our armed forces' decisive and deterrent response and the Zionist regime's clear incapacity, they were inevitably forced to enter the field themselves.'
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Mr Araghchi meanwhile declared that while the 'door to diplomacy' should always be open, 'this is not the case right now'.
Joint Chiefs chairman Dan Caine addressed the media at the Pentagon (Alex Brandon/AP)
He added: 'The warmongering, lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far reaching implications of its act of aggression.'
Satellite images taken on Sunday show damage to the mountainside at the underground site at Fordo.
The images, by Planet Labs PBC, show the once-brown mountain now has parts turned grey and its contours appear slightly different than in previous images, suggesting a blast threw up debris around the site.
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That suggests the use of specialised American bunker-buster bombs on the facility. Light grey smoke also hung in the air.
Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations following the strikes.
It is not clear whether the US will continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a nine-day war with Iran.
Iran targeted Tel Aviv with missiles in the hours after the US attack (Oded Balilty/AP)
Mr Trump acted without congressional authorisation, and he warned there will be additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against US forces.
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'There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,' he said.
Iran's foreign ministry said Washington had 'betrayed diplomacy' with the military strikes, and that 'the US has itself launched a dangerous war against Iran'.
Its statement added: 'The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to resist with full force against US military aggression and the crimes committed by this rogue regime, and to defend Iran's security and national interests.'
Hours after the American attacks, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a barrage of 40 missiles at Israel, including its Khorramshahr-4, which can carry multiple warheads.
Israeli authorities reported that more than 80 people suffered mostly minor injuries, though one multi-storey building in Tel Aviv was significantly damaged, with its entire facade torn away to expose the apartments inside. Houses across the street were almost completely destroyed.
Following the Iranian barrage, Israel's military said it had 'swiftly neutralised' the Iranian missile launchers that had fired, and that it had begun a series of strikes towards military targets in western Iran.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White House following the air strikes (Carlos Barria/pool/AP)
Iran has maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Mr Trump and Israeli leaders have argued Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat.
The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel that significantly degraded Iran's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, and damaged its nuclear enrichment facilities.
But US and Israeli officials have said American B-2 stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb that only they have been configured to carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground.
Mr Trump appears to have made the calculation – at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republicans – that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear programme, perhaps permanently.
'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan,' Mr 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, Fordo. All planes are safely on their way home.'
pic.twitter.com/wu9mMkxtUg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
June 21, 2025
Mr Trump later added: '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!'
Israel announced on Sunday that it had closed its airspace to both inbound and outbound flights in the wake of the US attacks.
US officials said the attack used bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, while submarines launched about 30 Tomahawk missiles.
The decision to attack was a risky one for Mr Trump, who won the White House partially on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
But he has vowed he will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear programme peacefully.
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The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Retaliation, regime change, sleeper cells and impeachment: The looming questions in the wake of Trump's attack on Iran
President Donald Trump bombed Iran's nuclear facilities just weeks after Israel began attacking the nation over concerns it was developing a nuclear weapon. What happens next? Should Americans expect retaliation from Iran? If so, where, and in what form? Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that what happens next will largely be up to Iran and its response to the U.S.'s bombing. 'If the regime wants peace, we're ready for peace. If they want to do something else, they're incredibly vulnerable. They can't even protect their own airspace,' Rubio said on CBS's Face the Nation. How did the US attack Iran? On June 21, Trump initiated Operation Midnight Hammer, which saw B-2 bombers and missiles strike Iran's nuclear facilities where the U.S. and Israel believe Iran was enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons. The Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites were hit by a salvo of 30 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles — cruise missiles with a range of at least 1,000 miles — fired from American submarines. At the Fordow nuclear site, which is located hundreds of feet underground, as many as six 30,000 munitions known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators — which are referred to by the Air Force designation GBU-57A/B — hit the site. The MOP so-called bunker-buster bombs were designed specifically to attack and destroy hardened facilities such as Fordow which are otherwise protected from typical munitions. The bombs used against Fordow were dropped from B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flying out of Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri. Will Iran retaliate? No one knows, perhaps not even Iranian leaders. Tehran could choose not to retaliate in an effort to reopen diplomatic options with the U.S., though its unclear if that would stop Israel from continuing to launch missiles into its territory. In 2020, after Trump assassinated Iranian general Qassim Suleimani, Iran launched a wave of missile attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, but then pulled back from further retaliation, possibly in order to avoid a larger regional war. Iran could proceed in a similar fashion now. It's unclear if Ayatollah Khamenei will seek to re-establish diplomatic avenues with Trump. What can Iran do to the U.S.? Iran could seek to attack U.S. troops or U.S. assets in the region. The United States has about 40,000 troops stationed across the Middle East, in more than a dozen countries including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE, and on ships in the region. It could also target U.S. commerce. Tehran could try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off a vital shipping lane and blocking oil tankers from entering or leaving the Persian Gulf. Iran also has cyberwarfare capabilities or it could work with allied elements — like Al Qaeda — to carry out proxy attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests in the region. Is the U.S. at war? Officially, the U.S. would have to declare war, which requires Congressional approval. But that is mostly a formality. The U.S. did not declare war on Afghanistan or Iraq but still was involved in "boots on the ground" armed conflict in both countries. Asked directly during an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker whether the U.S. was now at war with Iran, Vice President JD Vance replied: 'No Kristen, we're not at war with Iran, we're at war with Iran's nuclear program.' Is the U.S. aiming for regime change? There have been mixed messages from the Trump administration about whether they are trying to bring down the Ayatollah's regime. The U.S. stated that regime change was an aim in its 2003 invasion of Iraq – something it achieved but at very great cost and leaving a long and controversial legacy. Vance told NBC's Kristen Welker on Sunday morning: 'Our view has been very clear that we don't want a regime change. We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it's already been built out. We want to end their nuclear program and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here.' However, several hours later, Trump appeared to contradict him with a post on his social media site: 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' What is the War Powers Resolution and can Trump be impeached over the attack? Trump's opponents have called his strike illegal, citing the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires the president to give Congress a 48-hour notification before taking any military action. It also limits the deployment of U.S. armed forces to 90 days without a formal declaration of war. Some Democrats have already accused Trump of violating the act. "The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers," Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, posted on X. If Trump did violate the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution, he could theoretically be impeached, but due to Republicans' control of both the House and the Senate, an impeachment vote would be extremely unlikely to succeed. 'This is not about the merits of Iran's nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense,' Democratic Congressman Sean Casten wrote on X. What has Iran said about the strikes? Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi accused the US of breaching international law in a social media post following the strike. 'The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear installations,' Araghchi said. He called on the rest of the UN to share in Iran's outrage over the attack, and said that Iran 'reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people'. 'The events this morning [Sunday] are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior," he said. According to a New York Times report, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has taken shelter in a bunker since the start of Israel's missile attacks, and has named three possible successors to lead the country in the event of his assassination. What's the deal with sleeper cells? Following Saturday's strikes, which Trump claimed 'totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, both White House and FBI officials have been on high alert for Iranian sleeper cells. Sleeper cells consist of spies or terrorists hiding out in the U.S. or Western countries that remain inactive, often living quiet and unassuming lives working regular jobs until they are ordered to act on a mission. According to reports, Tehran may now try to activate these covert spies – should they exist – after the U.S. joined Israel's military operations against Iran. Sleeper cells have been broken up in the U.S. in the past, such as in 2010 when 10 Russian sleeper agents were arrested and exchanged in a prisoner swap with Moscow. Who are Iran's allies? Iran's allies include some of the same groups and nations that oppose the U.S.'s role on the world's stage. Iran backs both the Lebanese militant force Hezbollah and Palestinian militants Hamas, and both groups would be considered allies of Iran. The Popular Mobilization Force in Iraq, Yemen's Houthi rebels, and Bashar Al-Assad's loyalists before his ousting in Syria are all also supporters of Iran. The country has also been supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, and enjoys a relationship with Moscow. Similarly, Iran maintains a strategic and economic partnership with China. What has the rest of the world said about the U.S. strikes? The world's response to Trump's attack in Iran has been mixed, though most statements express concerns over what happens next. Democrats The Democrats have condemned Trump's attack, accusing him of pushing the nation toward all-out war with Iran. House Minority Leader Congressman Hakeem Jeffries issued a scathing response to Trump's attacks. 'President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,' Congressman Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. 'Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action.' United Nations United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "gravely alarmed" by Trump's action. 'This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security', he said. 'At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.' United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer cautioned Iran to seek a diplomatic response and insisted maintaining stability in the region was a priority, according to a statement from Downing Street. '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,' Starmer said in a statement. European Union The European Union walked the line, saying that it agreed that Iran must be stopped from developing a nuclear weapon, but also urging restraint from both Tehran and the U.S. and Israel. Israel Israel praised Trump's actions. '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,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address. 'History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons.' Russia Russia brushed off the attack, saying that it didn't do anything to stop Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions. The deputy head of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council, former president Dmitry Medvedev, said in a statement that multiple nations would be willing to provide Iran with nuclear weapons — though he did not specify which — and said the strike caused minimal damage to Iran's nuclear facilities. China The Chinese foreign ministry also "strongly condemned" the attack, saying they 'seriously violate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, and have exacerbated tensions in the Middle East' 'China calls on the parties to the conflict, Israel in particular, to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, ensure the safety of civilians, and start dialogue and negotiation,' the foreign ministry said on X. 'China stands ready to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East." Latin/South America and Iran's regional allies Several Latin and South American countries with left-wing governments condemned Trump's attacks. Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and Chile, all voiced their opposition to the U.S.'s attack. Iran's allies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, all strongly condemned the attacks in their own statements.
Times
20 minutes ago
- Times
Offer of talks went unanswered — so Trump sent bombers instead
T he clock started ticking down towards the US bombing of Iran after the Iranian regime failed to respond within a 60-day deadline set in a private letter from President Trump to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Even as military preparations were in full swing over the past week, senior officials said Trump remained open throughout to a meaningful overture from Tehran, as indicated when he told his press secretary to announce on Thursday that he would decide 'within two weeks' whether or not to join Israel's campaign. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, went even further, saying on Sunday that the bombing mission could have been aborted while the planes were in the air if circumstances had changed.
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Satellite images indicate severe damage to Fordow, but doubts remain
WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - Commercial satellite imagery indicates the U.S. attack on Iran's Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged - and possibly destroyed - the deeply-buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but there was no confirmation, experts said on Sunday. 'They just punched through with these MOPs,' said David Albright, a former U.N. nuclear inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, referring to the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bombs that the U.S. said it dropped. 'I would expect that the facility is probably toast.' But confirmation of the below-ground destruction could not be determined, noted Decker Eveleth, an associate researcher with the CNA Corporation who specializes in satellite imagery. The hall containing hundreds of centrifuges is "too deeply buried for us to evaluate the level of damage based on satellite imagery," he said. To defend against attacks such as the one conducted by U.S. forces early on Sunday, Iran buried much of its nuclear program in fortified sites deep underground, including into the side of a mountain at Fordow. Satellite images show six holes where the bunker-busting bombs appear to have penetrated the mountain, and then ground that looks disturbed and covered in dust. The United States and Israel have said they intend to halt Tehran's nuclear program. But a failure to completely destroy its facilities and equipment could mean Iran could more easily restart the weapons program that U.S. intelligence and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say it shuttered in 2003. Several experts also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the U.S. and U.N. nuclear inspectors. They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing "unusual activity" at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance of the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the near weapons-grade 60% highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the U.S. attack. "I don't think you can with great confidence do anything but set back their nuclear program by maybe a few years," said Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. "There's almost certainly facilities that we don't know about." Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat and member of the Senate intelligence committee who said he had been reviewing intelligence every day, expressed the same concern. "My big fear right now is that they take this entire program underground, not physically underground, but under the radar," he told NBC News. "Where we tried to stop it, there is a possibility that this could accelerate it." Iran long has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But in response to Israel's attacks, Iran's parliament is threatening to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of the international system that went into force in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ending cooperation with the IAEA. "The world is going to be in the dark about what Iran may be doing," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group. Reuters spoke to four experts who reviewed Maxar Technologies satellite imagery of Fordow showing six neatly spaced holes in two groups in the mountain ridge beneath which the hall containing the centrifuges is believed to be located. General Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told, opens new tab reporters that seven B-2 bombers dropped 14 GBU-57/B MOPs, 30,000-pound precision-guided bombs designed to drive up to 200 feet into hardened underground facilities like Fordow, according to a 2012 congressional report. Caine said initial assessments indicated that the sites suffered extremely severe damage, but declined to speculate about whether any nuclear facilities remained intact. Eveleth said the Maxar imagery of Fordow and Caine's comments indicated that the B-2s dropped an initial load of six MOPs on Fordow, followed by a "double tap" of six more in the exact same spots. Operation Midnight Hammer also targeted Tehran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, he said, and struck in Isfahan, the location of the country's largest nuclear research center. There are other nuclear-related sites near the city. Israel had already struck Natanz and the Isfahan Nuclear Research Center in its 10-day war with Iran. Albright said in a post on X that Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery showed that U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles severely damaged a uranium facility at Isfahan and an impact hole above the underground enrichment halls at Natanz reportedly caused by a Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting bomb that "likely destroyed the facility." Albright questioned the U.S. use of cruise missiles in Isfahan, saying that those weapons could not penetrate a tunnel complex near the main nuclear research center believed to be even deeper than Fordow. The IAEA said the tunnel entrances "were impacted." He noted that Iran recently informed the IAEA that it planned to install a new uranium enrichment plant in Isfahan. "There may be 2,000 to 3,000 more centrifuges that were slated to go into this new enrichment plant," he said. "Where are they?"
