US strikes Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran warns of ‘everlasting consequences'
The United States has attacked three sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel's war aimed at destroying the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a long-time foe which has prompted fears of a wider regional conflict.
US President Donald Trump asserted that Iran's key nuclear sites had been 'completely and fully obliterated', in an address to the nation from the White House. There was no independent damage assessment.
The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz sites, but it insisted its nuclear programme will not be stopped.
Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog said there are no immediate signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations following the strikes.
It is not clear whether the US will continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a nine-day war with Iran.
Mr Trump acted without congressional authorisation, and he warned there will be additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against US forces.
'There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,' he said.
Iran's top diplomat, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, warned in a post on X that the US attacks 'will have everlasting consequences' and that Tehran 'reserves all options' to retaliate.
Hours later, Iranian missiles struck areas in northern and central Israel, according to an Israeli rescue service. Initial reports suggested at least 16 people suffered minor injuries and several buildings were damaged.
A satellite image of the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran, taken early this year (Maxar Technologies/AP)
Following the Iranian barrage, Israel's military said it had 'swiftly neutralised' the Iranian missile launchers that had fired, and that it had begun a series of strikes towards military targets in western Iran.
Iran has maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Mr Trump and Israeli leaders have argued Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat.
The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel that significantly degraded Iran's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, and damaged its nuclear enrichment facilities.
But US and Israeli officials have said American B-2 stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb that only they have been configured to carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground.
Mr Trump appears to have made the calculation – at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republicans – that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear programme, perhaps permanently.
'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 later added: '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!'
Israel announced on Sunday that it had closed its airspace to both inbound and outbound flights in the wake of the US attacks.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation but an update is expected on Sunday morning.
But one US official said the attack used bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant that is built deep into a mountain. The weapons are designed to penetrate the ground before exploding.
In addition, US submarines launched about 30 Tomahawk missiles, according to another US official.
The decision to attack was a risky one for Mr Trump, who won the White House partially on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
But he has vowed he will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear programme peacefully.
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Irish Times
42 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Explainer: How Iran could hit back at the US and what that could mean
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned Washington of 'irreparable damage' if the US joined Israel 's war on the Islamic republic. On Saturday, Donald Trump did just that. The US president sent American bombers to attack Iran's key nuclear facilities. The sites were 'obliterated', he said. Retired general Joseph Votel, a former commander of US central command — which oversees American troops in the Middle East — said the Pentagon had to assume that Iran would retaliate. READ MORE This could mean direct attacks on US forces or diplomatic missions in the region, cyber attacks, terrorism, or new strikes by Iranian proxies, said analysts. Tehran could also disrupt energy shipments out of the Gulf. With tens of thousands of US troops deployed in the Middle East, and Iran and its proxies being 'very clear' that they would attack, the world would soon learn if Mr Trump was 'prepared for the consequences', said Dana Stroul, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East. Large US military hubs in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait were 'very likely' targets for Iran, Mr Votel said, adding that Centcom would have already taken preparations ahead of the attack. In the days before the US's military action on Saturday night, Elliott Abrams, who was the special representative for Iran and Venezuela in the first Trump administration, said the targets could also be US Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Iran could also try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a third of the world's seaborne crude passes each day, he said. That would '[raise] world oil prices immediately'. While the US has sent more military assets to the region in recent days, Iran was 'prepared now' for a counterstrike, with a 'range of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones', former air force secretary Frank Kendall said ahead of the US bombing raid. Deciding to do so would be 'an escalation question' for the Iranians — 'a calculation of what additional attacks would be remounted if they responded' to the US. Mr Trump warned Iran against that course of action in his late-night address on Saturday, saying Tehran needed to sue for peace now or face more war. 'Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,' he said. The US has approximately 40,000 troops and military personnel in the Middle East, according to a US defence official, in bases and military sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, as well as Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The bases in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait are equipped with aerial defences, but are within striking distance of Iran's shorter-range missiles, said Mr Kendall. There are also multiple destroyers and an aircraft carrier group in the region, with the USS Nimitz carrier strike group also on the way. 'They're always on a reasonable set of alert because of potential attacks, but I would assume [it] would be higher [now],' he said. The US's 2,500 troops in Iraq and hundreds in Syria could be vulnerable to attacks from Iranian-backed Shia militants — who have in the past fired rockets and drones at US assets and troops — as well as from Iran's missiles. 'Militias in Iraq are not dismantled. They made a political decision to preserve and protect themselves and not attack US forces' up to this point, said Ms Stroul. Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen will also consider the US's strikes a violation of a ceasefire the group had reached with Washington this spring, Ms Stroul said, and could target the American vessels. Alongside Iran's remaining missiles, other forms of weaponry are available, said analysts. 'Iran still has very sophisticated offensive cyber capabilities, their network maintains all sorts of sleeper cells far beyond the Middle East,' Ms Stroul said. Another risk is that Saturday's US bombing raid on Fordow, one of Iran's two main uranium enrichment facilities, has been less successful than intended. While Iran confirmed the attacks, there was no evidence yet of the extent of the damage to the subterranean facility. The attacks could make Iran more determined to develop a nuclear weapons programme. The republic was already enriching uranium to levels close to weapons grade, though it says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes. 'Even though there's no question that the Israelis have inflicted significant damage on Iran's military-industrial complex, its ballistic missile capabilities, its nuclear programme and its leadership . . . you cannot bomb away all knowledge and these programmes can be rebuilt,' said Ms Stroul. 'Any additional damage would set them back perhaps years, but it would not stop them from reconstituting or continuing a programme to acquire nuclear weapons,' said Mr Kendall. Iran could also strike back with punishing economic effect by targeting energy supplies out of the Gulf. In 2019, the vulnerabilities were exposed when a missile and drone attack blamed on Iran temporarily knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's crude oil output. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have in recent years engaged in a détente with Iran, seeking to reduce tensions and ward off more strikes. In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran could use fast-attack boats, submarines and land-based anti-ship weapons to strike sailing ships, said Mr Kendall. Alternatively, it could mine the waterway — though Iran also uses the strait for its own oil exports, its key source of foreign currency. Michael Alfaro, chief investment officer at Gall Partners, an energy-focused hedge fund, said global energy markets would be braced for prolonged turbulence after the US strikes. 'The broader geopolitical consequences will almost certainly keep upward pressure on oil prices,' he said. 'Iran is likely to retain significant influence over the Strait of Hormuz.' Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst and global head of strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said she was worried about the vulnerability of Iraq, which produces 4mn barrels of oil a day. Infrastructure in Basra was threatened by 'Iranian-backed militias that operate very close to those facilities', she told the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum on Wednesday. Other experts said they thought Israel's bombardment, which has killed many of Iran's top military commanders and destroyed missile launchers and plants, had sufficiently weakened Iran's ability to retaliate against the US. Israel has destroyed most of Iran's air defences in recent days and has secured near total air dominance over the republic. Iran's main proxy, Lebanese militant movement Hizbullah, has also been severely debilitated after Israel launched a series of devastating assaults on the group last year. There would be 'major drawbacks' to Iran using missiles and drones to retaliate, said Erik Raven, former under-secretary of the US navy. 'Their stockpiles are depleting [and] American missile defence systems are highly capable,' he added. 'There is no chance of these attacks achieving any of their political goals. The calculation is all risk, no reward.' - Financial Times
Irish Times
43 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘Avoid a spiral of chaos': World leaders react to US attack on Iran
The reaction of world leaders after US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites ranged from Israel lauding President Donald Trump's decision to the UN calling for de-escalation and Iran and some other nations condemning the attacks. Israel prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu '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 ... History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons.' Iran foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, on X 'The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear installations. The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior. In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.' UN secretary general António Guterres 'I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today. This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world. I call on member states to de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law. At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.' READ MORE Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris 'The risk of an extremely dangerous spiral of escalation in relation to Iran and Israel is now more real and more likely than ever before. There is an urgent need for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy ... Europe, including Ireland, is fully united in the clear view that Iran should not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. The way to address this was always through a negotiated solution. Any alternative to that is simply too dangerous for civilians, for the Middle East region and for global security. Together with my EU counterparts, we will in the coming hours and days discuss and review the latest developments and consider the next steps Europe can usefully play to support de-escalation." UK prime minister Keir Starmer 'Iran's nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat. The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority. We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.' Demonstrators march with placards condemning the US attacks on Iran during a protest in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday. Photograph: Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images Australia government spokesperson: 'We have been clear that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programme has been a threat to international peace and security. 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.' Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba 'It is crucial that there be a quick de-escalation of the conflict. We are closely monitoring the situation there with grave concern.' Mexico foreign ministry, on X 'The ministry urgently calls for diplomatic dialogue for peace between the parties involved in the Middle East conflict. In keeping with our constitutional principles of foreign policy and our country's pacifist conviction, we reiterate our call to de-escalate tensions in the region. The restoration of peaceful coexistence among the states of the region is the highest priority.' Venezuela foreign minister Yvan Gil, on Telegram 'Venezuela Condemns US Military Aggression Against Iran and Demands an Immediate Cessation of Hostilities. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela firmly and categorically condemns the bombing carried out by the United States military, at the request of the State of Israel, against nuclear facilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan complexes.' Cuba president Miguel Diaz-Canel, on X 'We strongly condemn the US bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, which constitutes a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The aggression seriously violates the UN Charter and international law and plunges humanity into a crisis with irreversible consequences.' - Additional reporting by Reuters (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
Irish Times
43 minutes ago
- Irish Times
US bombs Iran live updates: Tehran warns of ‘everlasting conequences' over US strikes
Conor Pope - 2 minutes ago In terms of what happened, when, here is a timeline with all times Irish time. 00;50 US President Donald Trump announces that three strokes have been carried out on Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The US reportedly used heavy bunker-busting bombs dropped from B-2 strategic stealth bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles although that was not confirmed by Mr Trump. 01:56: The attacks are confirmed by Iran. 02:43: 'President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength,' says Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu while a minute later the head of the United Nations describes the bombing as a 'dangerous escalation'. 03:00 : Donald Trump addresses the nation and in a televised address calls on Iran to 'now make peace' or face 'far greater' attacks. 05:31 : A fresh missile strike on Israel is launched by Iran. 06:00 : The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports 'no increase' in radiation levels at the targeted sites struck by the US bombers. Conor Pope - 14 minutes ago Shortly before 1am Irish time, US B-2 bombers carried out an attack on three nuclear facilities in Iran using heavy 'bunker-busting' bombs. The US President Donald Trump - in a televised address - hailed the operation as a 'spectacular military success and he warned Tehran to quickly make peace or face 'far greater' attacks. 'The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,' the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said as he called the US strikes a 'grave violation' of the UN charter, international law and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He said that 'Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.' In the wake of the US attack, Israeli military warned people to seek cover from a missile barrage from Iran that appeared heavier than what the attacks that have been recorded in recent days. Reaction to the bombing and the dramatic escalation of tension in the mIddle East has been coming in through the night and will continue throughout today.
