Pentagon insider: Trump's only option to obliterate Iran's deadly labs
Only a tactical nuclear warhead would be certain to destroy Iran's key uranium enrichment base hidden inside a mountain, a military official has told the Daily Mail. It comes amid doubts that 30,000-pound 'bunker buster' bombs would be enough to destroy the secretive facility at Fordo, 60 miles south of Tehran.
Tactical nukes are meant for battlefield use and do not carry the same devastating payloads as strategic nukes, which are used to topple cities. In this case, the warhead selected could be sized for the Fordo site, though no tactical nuclear weapon has ever been used in combat before.
Israeli officials have urged American forces to deploy multiple GBU-57 bunker busters to cripple Fordo, a plant being used to enrich uranium hundreds of feet underground - the depth shields the lab from airstrikes. On Thursday, Trump gave Iran a two-week reprieve to negotiate a settlement that would see it give up on its quest to develop nuclear weapons. But as the crisis drags on, some military officials have expressed practical concerns that the bunker busters might not be enough. One official said, practically, a nuclear warhead would be the only way to be sure of success.
'The nuclear warhead has to happen, whether it's the first strike, second strike or 17th strike... given the location, from what I've read and for what I've seen, it's a difficult spot,' a military official told the Daily Mail. 'In order to be successful with the least amount of casualties, and to be able to get that target and do what we want to do, which is destroy them, it would have to involve a nuclear warhead.' 'Our bombers are the only ones that could get in there,' the official added.
When reached for comment about the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Middle East, the Pentagon passed along statements from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. 'Over the weekend, I directed the deployment of additional capabilities to the United States Central Command Area of Responsibility,' Hegseth's Monday statement read. 'Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region.'
Taking flight late at night, the US stealth planes along with massive refueling planes would take hours to reach Iran's nuclear sites, likely in the early hours between 2 and 4 am Ahead of them would likely fly stealth US fighter jets such as the F-35 to disable or absorb fire from any final defenses awaiting the bombers. Once the B-2s arrive, they'd drop their payloads from up to seven miles above their targets. The weapons they drop are generally guided by satellites to ensure direct hits.
The B-2s can carry up to two bunker busters each or they can carry up to 16 B61 or B83 nuclear weapons. However, using bunker busters does not ensure success. The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) reportedly found in a study of GBU-57s that a strike on Fordo likely would not be able to completely wipe out Iran's nuclear site.
Instead, it would be disabled for years, according to the Guardian. 'It would not be a one and done,' former DTRA deputy director Randy Manner told the outlet. 'It might set the program back six months to a year. It sounds good for TV but it's not real.' Israeli officials, on the other hand, are confident that multiple strikes with GBU-57s would take out Fordo. However, US officials say the architecture of the Iranian lab makes it difficult to destroy - threatening to protract any potential conflict involving the US.
They are also concerned about Iranian retaliation with drones. 'If they do strike US military bases, then there's going to be a lot more pressure to go in there, and that's also what I'm worried about,' the US official told the Daily Mail. With the recent use of drone warfare in Iran and Ukraine, drone strikes should be a top concern, the official shared. 'It doesn't have to be a missile, it could just be a drone carrying a bomb that could detonate part of the base,' the official continued. 'We're not thinking about this right now.'
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South Wales Argus
29 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
US strikes three Iranian nuclear sites
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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.
The Guardian
31 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump raises specter of further attacks against Iran after US military operation
Fresh from ordering military strikes on Iran, Donald Trump on Saturday raised the specter of further attacks against Iran if its leadership did not engage in peace talks in a sweeping and at times ominous televised late night address delivered from the White House. The remarks suggested that the president, who has repeatedly said he wanted to bring peace to global conflicts, at least partly viewed the strikes against Iran's enrichment facilities as a tactic to force negotiations – just days after he had suggested he would given Iran two weeks before deciding on an attack. Flanked by his vice-president, JD Vance; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Trump said from the Cross Hall of the White House that the strikes were aimed at destroying Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a level where it could be used in nuclear weapons. 'The strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' Trump said. Trump's address sparked a concerned reaction from some advisers in his orbit who had cautioned against US involvement against Iran because of the potential for the US military to become dragged into a protracted conflict to topple Iran's leadership as Israel has pushed. 'I'm not sure the talk Maga wanted to hear. It sounded open-ended. They either shut down the nuclear power facility, or give up, or surrender. Very open-ended,' Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser who had a three-hour lunch with the president on Thursday, said in a special broadcast of his War Room show. Trump claimed in the speech that the three nuclear facilities in Iran bombed by the US were 'completely and totally obliterated'. But the address was short on detail about the bombing operation against three nuclear sites at Natanz and Fordow, the key facility buried deep underground, and at Isfahan, where Iran was believed to have stored supplies of uranium that had been enriched to near-weapons grade. A US official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the dark-of-night operation involved six B-2 bombers dropping a dozen of the 30,000lb 'bunker buster' bombs, formally known as GBU-57s, to try to reach the bottom of the Fordow facility located deep under a mountain. One B-2 bomber also dropped two GBU-57s on the Natanz facility, in addition to the US navy launching 30 Tomahawk missiles on Natanz and Isfahan, the official said – a strike package far larger than many defense officials had expected. Aside from his claim of military success, Trump's remarks were most notable in warning of more attacks if Iran did not start negotiations to end the conflict with Israel and accede to his demands to stop enriching uranium. They also appeared to double as a warning against any retaliation by Iran. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,' Trump said. '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.' Trump also appeared to offer some justification for the bombing run, making the argument that Iran posed a direct threat to not just Israel but also the US. In doing so, after months of hesitancy, he re-embraced the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and said they had worked together as a team. '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. In particular, so many were killed by their general Qassem Suleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue,' Trump said.
The Guardian
31 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australia says Iran's nuclear program ‘a threat to international peace' after US launches attacks and threatens more
The federal government has called for 'de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy' after the US bombed Iran, as almost 4,000 Australian citizens attempt to escape the conflict zone. Donald Trump said the US had 'totally obliterated' key Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities after directly intervening to aid Israel's mission to destroy Tehran's nuclear program. Trump said Iran, which he called 'the bully of the Middle East', 'must make peace'. 'If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. For 40 years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel.' In a statement issued after Trump's White House address, a federal government spokesperson did not explicitly endorse the strikes, but reiterated Australia's position on the risk posed by Iran's nuclear program. 'We have been clear that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security,' a government spokesperson said. 'We note the US president's statement that now is the time for peace. The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.' Speaking before news of the bombings broke, the defence minister, Richard Marles, refused to be drawn on whether a US attack would be justified. However, while repeating calls for a de-escalation in the conflict, Marles restated the government's position that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program was a threat to the region and 'stability of the world'. The government last week deployed Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to the Middle East to help evacuate citizens stuck in Israel and Iran amid the latest escalation in the conflict. The number of Australian citizens seeking government help to evacuate the Middle East had reached 3,800 as of Sunday morning, including 2,600 people in Iran and 1,200 in Israel. Marles confirmed chartered civilian aircraft were ready to depart as soon as airspace over Iran and Israel reopened. 'Australians in Israel and Iran and the region should continue to monitor public safety information provided by local authorities, including to shelter in place when required,' the government spokesperson said on Sunday. 'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be communicating directly with registered Australians about preparations for assisted departures.' Also speaking before Trump's announcement on the US strikes, the acting shadow foreign minister, Andrew Hastie, said he agreed with the government that Iran should not have nuclear weapons; that Israel had a right to defend itself; and that the war should end. A former special forces soldier who served in Afghanistan, Hastie said he would be 'very hesitant' to put Australian troops on the ground in the Middle East. The international law expert Prof Donald Rothwell said it was 'virtually impossible' to mount a case that the US strikes were legal under international law. Under article 51 of the UN charter, states can use force to defend themselves from an armed attack. International law experts say the charter does not provide a broader right to pre-emptive attacks, such as the strikes Israel, and now the US, have launched on Iran. Rothwell, a professor at the Australian National University, said given there had been no direct threat from Iran towards the US then Trump's attack could not be justified. 'It's virtually impossible, I think, for the United States to mount any credible legal argument [for the strikes] on that basis,' he said. Rothwell said the US attacks could set a precedent for how other countries would use self-defence arguments as cover for pre-emptive attacks. 'The really concerning aspect of this is the precedent it sets. If the United States can do this, and this is a precedent that the United States is taking in terms of its interpretation of self-defence, or the way in which you can use force, then other states will take that into account in terms of how they consider their own future conduct.' The Australian Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said the federal government should condemn the US attacks which she described as a 'terrifying and catastrophic escalation'. 'From Iraq to Afghanistan, we have seen Australia follow the US into devastating and brutal wars that have done untold damage to the people of the Middle East,' she said. 'We know that you cannot bomb your way to peace.'
