U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Saturday (June 21, 2025) that the U.S. navy struck three websites in Iran, immediately joining Israel ’s effort to decapitate the nation’s nuclear program in a dangerous gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s risk of reprisals that might spark a wider regional conflict.
There was no quick acknowledgment from Iran of any strikes being carried out.
The resolution to immediately contain the U.S. within the conflict comes after greater than per week of strikes by Israel on Iran which have moved to systematically eradicate the nation’s air defences and offensive missile capabilities, whereas damaging its nuclear enrichment services. But U.S. and Israeli officers have stated that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry provided the very best probability of destroying heavily-fortified websites linked to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
Also learn: Israel-Iran conflict reside updates
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Mr. Trump stated in a submit 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 submit that he would deal with the nationwide at 10:00 p.m. japanese 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!”
Mr. Trump stated B-2 stealth bombers have been used however didn’t specify which varieties of bombs have been dropped. The White House and Pentagon didn’t instantly elaborate on the operation.
The strikes are a deadly resolution for the U.S. as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Mr. Trump personally, having gained the White House on the promise of retaining America out of expensive international conflicts and scoffed on the worth of American interventionism.
Mr. Trump advised reporters on Friday that he was not concerned with sending floor forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had beforehand indicated that he would make a ultimate alternative over the course of two weeks, a timeline that appeared drawn out because the scenario was evolving shortly.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the United States that strikes focusing on the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.”
Mr. Trump has vowed that he wouldn’t permit Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the specter of pressure would convey the nation’s leaders to surrender its nuclear program peacefully.
Israel ’s navy stated Saturday it was making ready for the potential for a prolonged conflict, whereas Iran’s international minister warned earlier than the U.S. assault that American navy involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
The prospect of a wider conflict threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen stated they’d resume assaults on U.S. vessels within the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s navy campaign. The Houthis paused such assaults in May below a cope with the U.S.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel introduced the U.S. had begun “assisted departure flights,” the primary from Israel for the reason that Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the conflict in Gaza.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at Thursday’s press briefing that Mr. Trump had stated: “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” Instead, the U.S. President struck simply two days later.
Mr. Trump seems to have made the calculation — on the prodding of Israeli officers and lots of Republican lawmakers — that Israel’s operation had softened the bottom and offered a maybe unparalleled alternative to set again Iran’s nuclear program, maybe completely.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defences, permitting them to already considerably degrade a number of Iranian nuclear websites.
But to destroy the Fordo nuclear gasoline enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Mr. Trump for U.S. bunker-busting bomb, which makes use of its weight and sheer kinetic pressure to achieve deeply buried targets after which explode. The penetrator is at present solely delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is simply discovered within the American arsenal.
The bomb carries a standard warhead, and is believed to have the ability to penetrate about 200 toes (61 metres) under the floor earlier than exploding, and the bombs might be dropped one after one other, successfully drilling deeper and deeper with every successive blast.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing extremely enriched uranium at Fordo, elevating the likelihood that nuclear materials may very well be launched into the realm if the GBU-57 A/B have been used to hit the ability.
Previous Israeli strikes at one other Iranian nuclear website, Natanz, on a centrifuge website have prompted contamination solely on the website itself, not the encircling space, the IAEA has stated.
Mr. Trump’s resolution for direct U.S. navy intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — together with with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — geared toward persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
For months, Mr. Trump stated he was devoted to a diplomatic push to influence Iran to surrender its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and once more in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry off on navy motion in opposition to Iran and provides diplomacy extra time.
The U.S. in latest days has been shifting navy plane and warships into and across the Middle East to guard Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian assaults.
All the whereas, Mr. Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the second may very well be a “second chance” for Iran to make a deal to delivering specific threats on Mr. Khamenei and making requires Tehran’s unconditional give up.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Mr. Trump stated 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 navy showdown with Iran comes seven years after Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered settlement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”
The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and different world powers, created a long-term, complete nuclear settlement that restricted Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in trade for the lifting of financial sanctions.
Mr. Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran an excessive amount of in return for too little, as a result of the settlement didn’t cowl Iran’s non-nuclear malign behaviour.
Mr. Trump has bristled at criticism from a few of his MAGA devoted, together with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who’ve instructed that additional U.S. involvement can be a betrayal to supporters who have been drawn to his promise to finish U.S. involvement in costly and countless wars.
