US strikes three Iranian nuclear sites
President Donald Trump said that the United States military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, quoting a provincial official, confirmed attacks on Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.
The decision to directly involve the US in the war 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.
US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kg) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground.
'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, 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, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.'
Mr Trump added in a later post that he would address the national audience at 10pm eastern time, 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 said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.
The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Mr 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.
Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it's 'the last thing you want to do.' He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks, a timeline that seemed drawn out as the situation was evolving quickly.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them'.
Iranian foreign 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 would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully.
Israel 's military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement 'would be very, very dangerous for everyone.'
The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel's military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US.
The US ambassador to Israel announced the US had begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday's press briefing that Trump had said: 'I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.' Instead, the U.S. president struck just two days later.
Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear program, perhaps permanently.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defences, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for US bunker-busting bomb, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.
The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility.
Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said.
Mr Trump's decision for direct US military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear programme.
For months, Mr Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.
The US in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and US bases from Iranian attacks.
All the while, Mr Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a 'second chance' for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Mr Khamenei and making calls for Tehran's unconditional surrender.
'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Mr Trump said 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 military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Mr Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever'.
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, US and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Mr Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran's non-nuclear malign behaviour.
Mr Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his Maga faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Star
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Star
Trump delivers chilling 10-word warning shot if Iran 'doesn't make peace'
Donald Trump issued a chilling warning to Iran after launching airstrikes that eradicated three of the country's nuclear facilities. "Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace," the president said before issuing the 10-word threat: "If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier." He began his speech by detailing the mission that was carried out on Saturday night. "Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terror," Trump began the short speech, which he delivered from the White House on Saturday night. Read More Related Articles Donald Trump dementia fears spike after 'symptom' spotted in President's suit Read More Related Articles JD Vance faces huge backlash for bringing 'uncontrollable kids' to Trump parade A map from The Associated Press shows where the nuclear facilities in Iran are located (Image: AP/OpenStreetMap) "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," he claimed. The strikes on Saturday night targeted three locations — Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan, according to Trump, who gloated about the attack on his Truth Social just after it happened. "We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," he wrote. "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." The attacks were carried out using B-2 bombers (Image: AP) "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! Thank you for your attention to this matter," he concluded. He later posted a simple picture of the American flag. During his Saturday night address, Trump admitted to working with Israel — in particular, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to carry out the attacks. He thanked Netanyahu for his support, and Netanyahu later told Fox News, "Tonight, President Trump and the U.S. acted with a lot of strength. President Trump, I thank you. The people of Israel thank you." The Israeli prime minister later issued a statement on his X account, writing, "President Trump and I often say: 'Peace through strength.' First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight, @realDonaldTrump and the United States acted with a lot of strength." "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," he added in the video message attached to the tweet. "History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons. His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace," he said. The rest of Trump's speech slammed Iran for its political decisions over the years — namely, its backing of rebel groups like the Houthis in Yemen, who have targeted American — and allied — assets in the Middle East for years. He blamed Iran for sponsoring terrorism and went on a tirade about their alleged "roadside bombs." "For 40 years, Iran has been saying, 'Death to America! Death to Israel!' They have been killing our people — blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty," he said. "We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate," he continued. He then issued another chilling threat to Iran: "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. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and, perhaps, the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes," he said. The attacks were a risky gambit to weaken Tehran, with fears of a broader regional conflict on the horizon. There wasn't any immediate reaction from the Iranian government concerning the strikes, but the country's state-run IRNA news agency confirmed the attack on the Fordow facility early Sunday. IRNA reported that Iran's air defenses were activated during the attack, but there wasn't any further information provided about the damage or the nature of the attack, which was carried out by B-2 bombers from the U.S., which were seen heading to the region over the past day. Israeli officials previously said that the U.S.'s 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs that the country alone carries were the only ones that offered a good enough chance to damage the nuclear facilities in Iran. The bombs are carried by B-2 bombers, which the U.S. sent to the region over the past couple of days. They were seen leaving the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on Friday, according to CNN, and then were detected flying over the Pacific Ocean, likely to Guam, on Saturday. Reports indicate that six bunker busters were dropped on Fordow, while the other facilities were destroyed by about 30 Tomahawk missiles launched from American submarines stationed about 400 miles away, according to Fox News' Sean Hannity. Israel's military warned on Saturday that it's ready for a lengthy war with Iran.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
In 28 Years Later, Brexit Britain runs screaming towards its Apocalypse Now. What took it so long?
'Donald Trump is going to make punk rock great again,' the mouthy musician Amanda Palmer said after that individual was elected president of the United States for the first time. You think? In the same year, 2016, the United Kingdom elected to leave the European Union. Nobody suggested that punk would feast on incoming catastrophe, but there was great wailing from the literati. 'I think it's a self-inflicted wound,' Martin Amis said. 'I don't like the nostalgic utopia.' Ian McEwan described Brexit as 'the most pointless, masochistic ambition ever dreamed of in the history of these islands'. One imagined poets and choreographers collapsing in despair up and down the aisles of north London's classier off-licences. READ MORE Brexit would now reap the artistic whirlwind. Right? The Europhobic voters of Stoke-on-Trent will feel silly when they hear about that ballet concerning lengthened queues for non-EU passport holders at Florence airport. Worthwhile anti-Trump culture proved thin on the ground in that president's opening term. There was even less Brexit-bashing art in the aftermath of 'Britain's fateful decision' (to use the approved cliche). We did get a great many popular – and good – nonfiction books on the mechanics of the referendum, its potential aftermath and its moral implications. Fintan O'Toole, of this jurisdiction, had a big hit with Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain . Tim Shipman's All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class did what the title claimed in exhaustive fashion. There was a lot more where those came from. But few were writing operas or novels on the topic. We are still awaiting the first great anti-Brexit protest song. These thoughts are prompted by the arrival this week of the second sequel to Danny Boyle 's classic zombie flick 28 Days Later. It hardly needs to be said that Alex Garland's script for 28 Years Later does not halt the violence to ponder article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. [ 28 Years Later review: Danny Boyle's rattling zombie epic never lets up in pace or invention Opens in new window ] We are dealing in allegory here – an unmistakable and blackly hilarious allegory. The mindless zombies have been driven back to Britain from the Continent. (I didn't catch if, like the Romans, the rage virus left Ireland uncolonised.) One proud island off the northeast coast has, however, kept the hordes at bay and, in the process, retreated into a class of mid-20th-century patriotic nostalgia. Boyle intercuts a reading of Rudyard Kipling's poem Boots with clips from Laurence Oliver's Henry V. 'Gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here!' And so on. The film-maker confirmed his intentions to El País newspaper. 'We haven't made a political film,' he said . 'But we've used the current world as a reference, how we behave in it, what cultural legacy we're going to leave behind. Brexit has constrained us, locked us in, and that's what 28 Years Later is about.' A stubborn Mancunian of Irish descent, Boyle will care not a whit if the thumping allegory upsets leavers, not least because it in no way impedes the hurtling progress of the core narrative. He can feel proud of showing how the subject can be addressed without dragging your film into po-faced agitprop. Why have so few artists attempted anything similar over the past decade? Have a look at Anish Kapoor's A Brexit, A Broxit, We All Fall Down from 2019. Created for the Guardian newspaper, it works an enormous cleft along the spine of Britain. The meaning is clear – a little too clear for an artist of Kapoor's subtlety. In 2017 the unavoidable, pseudonymous Banksy delivered a mural showing a sculptor chipping away one star from the EU flag. Not his most affecting piece. British novelists proved reluctant to engage so directly with the subject. It remains an oddity that Ali Smith's Autumn , frequently labelled the first post-Brexit novel, was published just four months after the vote. Alex Preston, writing in the Financial Times, marvelled 'that writing this good could have come so fast'. No deluge of Brexit fiction flowed into the succeeding abyss of negotiation. Plenty of films seemed to offer comment on the Brexit mindset. You could see Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk making the case for either side. The triumphant Paddington 2 played as an argument for diversity and inclusivity. But 28 Years Later really does feel like the closest thing to mainstream cinematic engagement with Brexit since the country voted on June 23rd, 2016. Maybe the argument against feels too much an obsession of elite London dinner parties. Maybe the wider subject is too complex to address as allegory or side narrative. Most likely audiences (and creators) just got sick of it long before the documents were finally signed. It's not Vietnam. Nobody was going to make an Apocalypse Now about Brexit. Though Boyle has come closer than seemed possible.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
In today's US, saying ‘be careful with crypto' sounds like socialism
Is it wrong to say advisers should be cautious when adding cryptocurrencies to retirement accounts? The Trump administration thinks so. In 2022, US regulators issued guidance urging fiduciaries to exercise 'extreme care' before adding volatile assets such as Bitcoin to retirement plans. Now, that caution has been cast aside, and its rollback is being framed as a win for free markets by the new administration. The Biden administration should have remained neutral, said US secretary of labour Lori Chavez-DeRemer. 'We're rolling back this overreach and making it clear that investment decisions should be made by fiduciaries, not DC bureaucrats.' This stance comes as the president and vice-president actively court crypto fans, appearing at Bitcoin conventions and, in Trump's case, launching a meme coin that briefly surged to a $15 billion market cap over inauguration weekend. READ MORE When the first lady is flogging her own coin, caution doesn't just sound dull: it sounds disloyal, unpatriotic, un-American. Suggesting restraint for retirees used to be common sense. In today's America, it sounds suspiciously like socialism. Even boring financial advice can't escape the culture wars.
