President Donald Trump on Saturday mentioned america had attacked Iranian nuclear websites, pushing America into Israel’s battle with its longtime rival and regional energy.
“A short while in the past, the U.S. navy carried out huge precision strikes on the three key nuclear services within the Iranian regime, Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan,” Trump mentioned in a speech from the White Home.
U.S. Navy submarines additionally launched greater than 30 Tomahawk missiles into Iran, two protection officers instructed NBC Information.
Trump mentioned the U.S. and Israel, “labored as a staff, like maybe no staff has ever labored earlier than. We have gone an extended solution to erasing this horrible menace” to the American ally.
The president congratulated the U.S. navy on “an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in lots of, many many years. Hopefully we’ll now not want their companies on this capability.”
“There will probably be both peace, or there will probably be tragedy for Iran far better than we’ve got witnessed over the past eight days. Bear in mind, there are numerous targets left,” Trump mentioned.
“Tonight was probably the most tough of all of them by far, and maybe probably the most deadly. But when peace doesn’t come shortly, we’ll go after these different targets with precision, velocity and ability, most of them may be taken out in a matter of minutes,” he added.
Trump watched the strikes unfold Saturday from the White Home Scenario Room, the place he was joined by his nationwide safety staff and closest aides.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a gathering alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio within the Scenario Room on the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 21, 2025.
White Home | By way of Reuters
The president initially introduced the strikes on social media Saturday, the place he wrote that “a full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the first website, Fordow.”
It was unclear late Saturday exactly how a lot injury the U.S. strikes had finished to the closely fortified Iranian nuclear websites, or whether or not any American navy belongings have been nonetheless lively within the nation.
Earlier within the day, a number of U.S. Air Pressure B-2 stealth bombers reportedly left Missouri, heading west over the Pacific Ocean. The huge planes are a few of the solely U.S. plane able to carrying the GBU-57 Large Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 30,000-pound bomb often called the “bunker buster.”
The bunker buster bombs are extensively considered as the one standard, non-nuclear weapons able to inflicting critical injury on the Fordo nuclear facility, which is constructed into the aspect of a mountain in
Saturday’s motion places america in direct armed battle with Iran, an enormous escalation in its involvement with Israel’s effort to cripple Tehran’s nuclear program and topple its regime.
Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the U.S. strikes, a White Home official instructed NBC Information.
The choice to assault Iran as soon as once more engages the American navy in lively warfare within the Center East — one thing Trump had vowed to keep away from throughout his second time period in workplace.
It additionally marks a serious shift from simply 48 hours in the past, when Trump mentioned america would take “two weeks” to see if the battle between Israel and Iran might be resolved diplomatically.
“Based mostly on the truth that there is a substantial likelihood of negotiations which will or might not happen with Iran within the close to future, I’ll make my determination whether or not or to not go inside the subsequent two weeks,” Trump mentioned Thursday in an announcement issued by the White Home.
Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been making an attempt to succeed in a take care of Iran over its nuclear program, and Trump in current months had reportedly urged Netanyahu to carry off on a strike.
Infographic with a map of Iran displaying nuclear websites, reactors and uranium mines.
Graphic by SYLVIE HUSSON, NALINI LEPETIT-CHELLA, SABRINA BLANCHARD| AFP | by way of Getty Pictures
That diplomatic path might now be closed. Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei mentioned not too long ago that “any American navy entry will undoubtedly be met with irreparable injury.”
“In the event that they enter militarily, they’ll face hurt that they can’t get better from,” he added in an announcement learn on Iranian state tv.
After the U.S. strikes, it was unclear what choices remained for an Iranian retaliation towards america.
One risk with direct impacts on the worldwide economic system and provide chain can be if Tehran have been to set landmines down within the Strait of Hormuz, mentioned Helima Croft, head of worldwide commodity technique at RBC Capital Markets.
The slender physique of water between Iran and Oman is the transit level for about 20% of the world’s oil, by way of tanker ships.
Landmines would successfully shut the strait, as a result of ships wouldn’t know the place the mines have been positioned.
“We’re already getting experiences that Iran is jamming ship transponders very, very aggressively,” Croft instructed CNBC’s “Quick Cash” on Wednesday.
QatarEnergy and the Greek Transport Ministry have already warned their vessels to keep away from the strait as a lot as potential, Croft mentioned.
Extra such alerts have been anticipated following Saturday’s U.S. assault on Iranian websites.
Infographic with map of the Gulf displaying maritime tanker site visitors in September 2024 by way of the Strait of Hormuz
Getty Pictures
Trump and former American presidents have lengthy insisted that Iran can’t have nuclear weapons.
Throughout his first time period, Trump pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear settlement that the Obama administration and different nations had brokered with Iran in 2015, arguing it failed to guard America or deter Tehran’s enrichment goals.
Israel has lengthy claimed that Iran is creating nuclear weapons, and has threatened to strike its nuclear program earlier than. However till now, Tel Aviv has restricted its navy engagement to focused assassinations and cyber assaults.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence, testified earlier than Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence neighborhood “continues to evaluate that Iran shouldn’t be constructing a nuclear weapon and Supreme Chief Khamenei has not licensed the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
However Trump has repeatedly dismissed his personal Cupboard official’s evaluation.
“I do not care what she mentioned. I feel they have been very near having one,” Trump mentioned on Air Pressure One final week.
