'Fordow is gone': US warplanes strike three nuclear sites in Iran
The US has carried out a "very successful attack" on three nuclear sites on Iran, President Donald Trump has said.
The strikes, which the US leader announced on social media, reportedly include a hit on the heavily-protected Fordow enrichment plant which is buried deep under a mountain.
It brings the US into direct involvement in the war between Israel and Iran.
In a posting on Truth Social, Mr Trump said, "All planes are safely on their way home" and he congratulated "our great American Warriors." He added: "Fordow is gone."
Mr Trump ended his posting saying, "Now is the time for peace."
2:44
It is not yet clear if the UK was directly involved in the attack.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Never here Keir! Starmer won't come to the Commons to field questions on Iran crisis and will miss PMQs AGAIN this week... after dodging grilling on grooming gangs
Keir Starmer will not field questions from MPs on the Iran crisis today amid criticism that he is dodging scrutiny. The PM is sending Foreign Secretary David Lammy to deliver a Commons statement on the burgeoning crisis in the Middle East this afternoon. Mr Lammy will come under huge pressure to justify the UK's position of refusing to say whether or not it backs US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. Sir Keir, who is meeting Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon, is expected to take Cabinet but not be in the House tomorrow. He will miss PMQs for the second week running on Wednesday as he is due at the Nato summit in The Hague. By Thursday, when he is due to make an appearance, the premier will not have spoken in the chamber for more than two weeks. Sir Keir has still not updated the elected chamber on the G7 summit in Canada last week - something that by convention happens as soon as possible. Sir Keir is under huge pressure to justify the UK's position of refusing to say whether or not it backs Donald Trump's strikes on Iran nuclear sites He was previously criticised for delaying his return from that gathering to dodge a grilling on grooming gangs. The summit wrapped up on Tuesday night, but Angela Rayner stood in at the weekly PMQs session the following lunchtime. The bombshell report by Baroness Casey condemning institutions for ignoring ethnic factors in sexual abuse of children dominated clashes in the House. Sir Keir had chosen to announced his extraordinary U-turn to back a statutory national inquiry into the scandal as he left the country for Canada the weekend before. The PM had spent months resisting demands from Opposition politicians and campaigners to trigger a new probe. But he shifted his position after reading the damning conclusions of Lady Casey's rapid review. Sir Keir was in Alberta when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made an apology to victims on behalf of the state, and published the Whitehall troubleshooter's report. Although he faced questions from the media at the G7 - which has been dominated by the Israel-Iran crisis - Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir 'should have been in the chamber this week talking about this issue'. Ms Rayner will again fill in for Sir Keir in the chamber this Wednesday. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: 'The Prime Minister has not even spoken once in the Commons since this crisis began.
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump pleads with oil companies to keep prices down after Iran blockade threat
Donald Trump is calling on 'everyone' to 'keep oil prices down' and has commanded the Department of Energy to open up drilling after oil prices surged to their highest levels in the wake of the president's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. 'EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN,' he wrote in an all-caps message on Truth Social on Monday. 'I'M WATCHING! YOU'RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON'T DO IT!' he added. In a separate post, he ordered the Department of Energy to 'DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!' International energy traders have braced for massive disruptions following Iran's parliamentary vote to support the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important choke point for the world's oil supply. Within hours after Saturday's attacks, roughly 50 oil tankers were seen scrambling to leave the strait. 'We're on it!' energy Secretary Chris Wright responded to Trump's post. 'Thanks to President Trump's leadership, America's energy security is stronger than ever before.' U.S. crude oil futures surged by more than 6 percent to peak at $78 a barrel on Sunday — more than $1 higher than the price set at the time of Trump's inauguration on January 20. The spike is likely to trickle down to gasoline prices as Americans prepare for a three-day Fourth of July weekend.
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Helpless and trapped': political prisoners stuck in Tehran jail with no way to flee bombings
When Mehraveh Khandan heard about Israel's evacuation order in Tehran last week, the first thing she thought of was her father. Reza Khandan, imprisoned for his human rights activism in 2024, was sitting in a cell in Tehran's Evin prison on the edge of the evacuation zone. She fielded calls from her friends, who were breathless from the shock of the Israeli bombs as tens of thousands fled the Iranian capital. Her father, by contrast, had no way to flee. He was stuck. 'It was the most helpless and trapped moments in my entire life. That was the clearest image for me of our situation as Iranians: one captures us, so the other can strike us,' the 25-year-old said from Amsterdam. On Monday, Mehraveh's worst fear was realised when Israel struck Evin prison. Grainy CCTV footage showed the entrance exploding and the gate crumbling, with Iran's judiciary confirming damage to parts of the prison. Relatives of prisoners told the Guardian there were injuries reported in wards four, seven and eight – where Reza was being held, though he was unharmed. 'Their heads are slightly injured from the force of the explosion, the blast wave caused their heads to hit the wall and swell,' said Hussein*, an Iran-based relative of the human rights lawyer Mohammed Najafi, who is imprisoned in ward four. 'The prisoners are worried.' The Guardian could not independently verify claims of injuries within the prison. Mehraveh is just one of many whose family members were detained for political reasons by the Iranian government. They now fear for the safety of their loved ones stuck in prisons, unable to flee the bombs. The Israeli defence minister's office said the prison attack was part of a larger assault on 'regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran'. Detainees and human rights activists have called for the temporary release of prisoners until fighting has stopped. A group of detainees, including Reza, sent a letter to the head of Iran's judiciary on Wednesday calling on him to temporarily release prisoners, citing an Iranian law that allows for conditional releases during war time. 'Prisons are not equipped with air raid warning systems, shelters or safe evacuation routes … especially ward eight of Evin prison, which is in an even more vulnerable state and does not even have a single fire extinguisher,' the letter read. Mehraveh and other family members of detainees were not optimistic that the Iranian government would approve the releases, noting a pattern of increasing repression during times of crisis. For Reza Younesi, whose 25-year-old brother Ali Younesi has been held in Evin prison since 2020, conditions have already gotten worse. On Wednesday, his family received news that Ali had been moved from Evin to an unknown location and that attempts by lawyers to locate him had proved fruitless. 'His cellmates called my mum from prison to let us know. We were hoping that maybe he's moved to another ward or even another prison, but there is no information,' said 43-year-old Younesi, speaking from Sweden. He added that he feared his brother was transferred to ward 209, where interrogations are conducted. According to a 2020 Amnesty report, security forces have been documented torturing detainees in ward 209, including through beatings and electric shocks. Ali, a student activist, was accused of possessing 'explosive devices' by Iranian authorities and of being associated with the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, which Iran considers a terrorist group. He was initially sentenced to 16 years in prison, which was reduced to six years and eight months on a recent appeal. 'This is a pattern for the regime. What they do when they are in crisis to show that they can control society is to become more aggressive, they suppress regular people in society, especially prisoners,' Younesi said. Human rights groups shared Younesi's concern. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran warned on Thursday that 54 political prisoners on death row were at grave risk. 'There is growing fear that Iranian authorities may use the cover of war to carry out these executions, using them as tools of reprisal and intimidation to further silence dissent and instil fear across the population,' the rights group said in a statement. Last Saturday, security forces arrested at least 16 people for 'spreading rumours' and residents in Iran told the Guardian they had noticed an uptick of arrests of people critical of the regime. Iran's interior ministry has also published a video of someone confessing to working on behalf of the Mossad (Israel's intelligence service) in Iran. Families of political prisoners say Israeli airstrikes on prisons are not the answer to state repression. They say bombing prisons could put political prisoners at risk. 'We don't believe he [Najafi] is safe at all – we know both the brutality of the Islamic Republic and the intensity of Israel's strikes. When he calls us, we can hear the sound of missile launches and anti-aircraft through the phone,' Hussein said. Inside Evin prison, detainees have reportedly started to stock up on goods, fearful that the fighting outside will lead to deterioration of conditions. Ali's cellmates were buying more food from the commissary, Reza said. Checking on loved ones inside prisons has become more difficult as Iran's government has also imposed a near-complete internet blackout on its population. Mehraveh, used to speaking to her father from abroad by calling her mother who would put him on speaker on a separate phone, has been unable to hear his voice since the bombing of the prison. For Reza, whose family has not heard from his brother in six days, the lack of communication was deeply worrying. Before, Ali would call his mother every day on the prison phone, comforting her with the mundane details of his daily routine. He had recently began learning French from other prisoners, and was teaching them astronomy – his passion – in return. 'I always tell him that he needs to do sports to make sure his body is not degrading,' Reza said. 'He always says, yeah don't worry, I'm doing it … Now we have no information from him, it's a very stressful time.'
