Trump says Iran nuclear sites 'obliterated,' threatens more strikes
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said that US air strikes had "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities and threatened more attacks if Tehran does not make peace.
"There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember there are many targets left," Trump said in a late-night address to the nation.
"If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
The fresh US military entanglement in the Middle East comes despite Trump's promises to avoid another of his country's "forever wars" in the region. Iran had vowed to retaliate against US forces in the region if Washington got involved.
"We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
"A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow."
pic.twitter.com/wu9mMkxtUg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025
Trump added that "all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors."
Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordo plant as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked.
Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attacks, while the United States also gave key ally Israel a "heads up" before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP.
In a second post announcing his address to the nation from the White House, Trump said that "IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR."
He described it as a "historic" moment for the United States, Israel and the world.
Trump did not say what kind of US planes or munitions were involved.
Iran's atomic agency said on Sunday that the country will carry on with its nuclear activities despite the US attacks on key facilities.
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IOL News
23 minutes ago
- IOL News
US military strikes on Iran: Trump declares success in obliterating nuclear sites
US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House in Washington, DC on June 21, 2025, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran. President Donald Trump said June 21, 2025 the US military has carried out a "very successful attack" on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo. "We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. President Donald Trump said US air strikes on Sunday "totally obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel's war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East. In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Trump warned that the United States would go after more targets if Iran did not make peace quickly. The intervention by a US president who had vowed to avoid another "forever war" in the region threatens to dramatically widen the conflict, with Iran having said it would retaliate if Washington got involved. "Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success," said Trump, adding that they targeted the crucial underground nuclear enrichment plant of Fordo along with facilities at Natanz and Isfahan. "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran the bully of the Middle East must now make peace," said Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the strikes, saying that "with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history." Condemning the US attacks as "lawless and criminal," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has a right to defend its sovereignty. "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences," he posted on X. "Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people." Not long after, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and explosions were heard from Jerusalem as Iranian state TV announced a fresh salvo of missiles launched. Tehran said Sunday there were "no signs of contamination" after the US attacks and Saudi regulators said "no radioactive effects were detected" in the Gulf region. Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordo plant as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked. Surprise attack Trump had said Thursday that he would decide "within two weeks" whether to join Israel's campaign, in a move that many saw as a window of diplomatic opportunity. But the Republican's decision to strike Iran came far sooner. Flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump said that future attacks would be "far greater" unless Iran reached a diplomatic solution. "Remember, there are many targets left," he said. Trump however made no mention of regime change, despite having warned last week that Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an "easy target." The raid on the Iran nuclear sites was carried out by B-2 stealth bombers that dropped so-called "bunker buster bombs," along with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, US media reported. Trump said earlier on his Truth Social site that a "full payload of BOMBS" was dropped on Fordo and said that "all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors." Pictures posted by the White House showed Trump in a red "Make America Great Again" cap meeting with top national security officials in the Situation Room, shortly before the strikes were announced. After the address, Trump warned Iran against "any retaliation." Iran and its proxies have previously attacked US military bases in the region, including in Iraq. Iran's Huthi allies in Yemen had on Saturday threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war. The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck Iran on June 13, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon. Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since then. MAGA split Trump spoke to Netanyahu after the attacks, while the United States also gave key ally Israel a "heads up" before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned earlier Saturday of a "more devastating" retaliation should Israel's nine-day bombing campaign continue. Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear program "cannot be taken away... by threats or war." Iran's Revolutionary Guard meanwhile announced early Sunday that "suicide drones" had been launched against "strategic targets" across Israel. The US military strikes on Iran also threaten to cause political tensions at home for Trump. The issue has opened a split in Trump's "MAGA" movement, with many key Republican supporters calling on Trump to avoid embroiling the United States in another foreign war. Trump's first 2016 election victory in particular came on the back of his promises to get America out of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats have also assailed him. Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump risked US "entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East," while others have accused him of bypassing Congress to launch a new war. AFP
IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
US, Israel Attacks on Iran: 'Stop Netanyahu Before He Gets Us All Killed'
Jeffrey D. Sachs and Sybil Fares For nearly 30 years, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has driven the Middle East into war and destruction. The man is a powder keg of violence. Throughout all the wars that he has championed, Netanyahu has always dreamed of the big one: to defeat and overthrow the Iranian Government. His long-sought war, just launched, might just get us all killed in a nuclear Armageddon unless Netanyahu is stopped. Netanyahu's fixation on war goes back to his extremist mentors, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Yitzhak Shamir, and Menachem Begin. The older generation believed that Zionists should use whatever violence–wars, assassinations, terror–is needed to achieve their aims of eliminating any Palestinian claim to a homeland. The founders of Netanyahu's political movement, the Likud, called for exclusive Zionist control over all of what had been British Mandatory Palestine. At the start of the British Mandate in the early 1920s, the Muslim and Christian Arabs constituted roughly 87% of the population and owned ten times more land than the Jewish population. As of 1948, the Arabs still outnumbered the Jews roughly two to one. Nonetheless, the founding charter of Likud (1977) declared that 'between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.' The now infamous chant, 'from the River to the Sea,' which is characterized as anti-Semitic, turns out to be the anti-Palestinian rallying call of the Likud. The challenge for Likud was how to pursue its maximalist aims despite their blatant illegality under international law and morality, both of which call for a two-state solution. In 1996, Netanyahu and his American advisors devised a 'Clean Break' strategy. They advocated that Israel would not withdraw from the Palestinian lands captured in the 1967 war in exchange for regional peace. Instead, Israel would reshape the Middle East to its liking. Crucially, the strategy envisioned the US as the main force to achieve these aims—waging wars in the region to dismantle governments opposed to Israel's dominance over Palestine. The US was called upon to fight wars on Israel's behalf. The Clean Break strategy was effectively carried out by the US and Israel after 9/11. As NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark revealed, soon after 9/11, the US planned to 'attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years—starting with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.' The first of the wars, in early 2003, was to topple the Iraqi government. Plans for further wars were delayed as the US became mired in Iraq. Still, the US supported Sudan's split in 2005, Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006, and Ethiopia's incursion into Somalia that same year. In 2011, the Obama administration launched CIA Operation Timber Sycamore against Syria and, with the UK and France, overthrew Libya's government through a 2011 bombing campaign. Today, these countries lie in ruins, and many are now embroiled in civil wars. Netanyahu was a cheerleader of these wars of choice–either in public or behind the scenes–together with his neocon allies in the U.S. Government including Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Victoria Nuland, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, and others. Testifying in the U.S. Congress in 2002, Netanyahu pitched for the disastrous war in Iraq, declaring 'If you take out Saddam, Saddam's regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.' He continued, 'And I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots is gone.' He also falsely told Congress, 'There is no question whatsoever that Saddam is seeking, is working, is advancing towards the development of nuclear weapons.' The slogan to remake a 'New Middle East' provides the slogan for these wars. Initially stated in 1996 through 'Clean Break,' it was popularized by Secretary Condoleezza Rice in 2006. As Israel was brutally bombarded Lebanon, Rice stated: 'What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East not going back to the old one.' In September 2023, Netanyahu presented at the UN General Assembly a map of the 'New Middle East' completely erasing a Palestinian state. In September 2024, he elaborated on this plan by showing two maps: one part of the Middle East a 'blessing,' and the other–including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran–a curse, as he advocated regime change in the latter countries. Israel's war on Iran is the final move in a decades-old strategy. We are witnessing the culmination of decades of extremist Zionist manipulation of US foreign policy. The premise of Israel's attack on Iran is the claim that Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. Such a claim is fatuous since Iran has repeatedly called for negotiations precisely to remove the nuclear option in return for an end to the decades of US sanctions. Since 1992, Netanyahu and his supporters have claimed that Iran will become a nuclear power 'in a few years." In 1995, Israeli officials and their US backers declared a 5-year timeline. In 2003, Israel's Director of Military Intelligence said that Iran would be a nuclear power 'by the summer of 2004.' In 2005, the head of Mossad said that Iran could build the bomb in less than 3 years. In 2012, Netanyahu claimed at the United Nations that 'it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb.' And on and on. This 30-year-plus pattern of shifting deadlines has marked a deliberate strategy, not a failure in prophecy. The claims are propaganda; there is always an 'existential threat.' More importantly, there is Netanyahu's phoney claim that negotiations with Iran are useless. Iran has repeatedly said that it does not want a nuclear weapon and that it has long been prepared to negotiate. In October 2003, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production and use of nuclear arms—a ruling later officially cited by Iran at an IAEA meeting in Vienna in August 2005 and referenced since as a religious and legal barrier to pursuing nuclear weapons. Even for those sceptical of Iran's intentions, Iran has consistently advocated for a negotiated agreement supported by independent international verification. In contrast, the Zionist lobby has opposed any such settlements, urging the US to maintain sanctions and reject deals that would allow strict IAEA monitoring in exchange for lifting sanctions. In 2016, the Obama Administration, together with the UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia, reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran—a landmark agreement to strictly monitor Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Yet, under relentless pressure from Netanyahu and the Zionist lobby, President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. Predictably, when Iran responded by expanding its uranium enrichment, it was blamed for violating an agreement that the US itself had abandoned. The double standard and propaganda are hard to miss. On April 11, 2021, Israel's Mossad attacked Iran's nuclear facilities in Natanz. Following the attack, on April 16, Iran announced that it would increase its uranium enrichment further, as bargaining leverage, while repeatedly appealing for renewed negotiations on a deal like the JCPOA. The Biden Administration rejected all such negotiations. At the start of his second term, Trump agreed to open a new negotiation with Iran. Iran pledged to renounce nuclear arms and to be subject to IAEA inspections but reserved the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. The Trump Administration appeared to agree to this point but then reversed itself. Since then, there have been five rounds of negotiations, with both sides reporting progress on each occasion. The sixth round was ostensibly to take place on Sunday, June 15. Instead, Israel launched a preemptive war on Iran on June 12. Trump confirmed that the US knew of the attack in advance, even as the administration was speaking publicly of the upcoming negotiations. Israel's attack was made not only amid negotiations that were making progress but also days before a scheduled UN Conference on Palestine that would have advanced the cause of the two-state solution. That conference has now been postponed. Israel's attack on Iran now threatens to escalate to a full-fledged war that draws in the US and Europe on the side of Israel and Russia and perhaps Pakistan on the side of Iran. We could soon see several nuclear powers pitted against each other and dragging the world closer to nuclear annihilation. The Doomsday Clock is 89 seconds to midnight, the closest to nuclear Armageddon since the clock was launched in 1947. Over the past 30 years, Netanyahu and his US backers have destroyed or destabilized a 4,000-km swath of countries stretching across North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Asia. They have aimed to block a Palestinian State by overthrowing governments supporting the Palestinian cause. The world deserves better than this extremism. More than 180 countries in the UN have called for a two-state solution and regional stability. That makes more sense than Israel bringing the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon in pursuit of its illegal and extremist aims. * Jeffrey D. Sachs is a University Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. Sybil Fares is a specialist and advisor in Middle East policy and sustainable development at SDSN. This article was originally published at ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
Daily Maverick
an hour ago
- Daily Maverick
Trump says Iran's key nuclear sites ‘obliterated' by US airstrikes
Trump warns Iran of more attacks if no peace agreement Iran confirms Fordow site attacked by 'enemy airstrikes' Israel claims coordination with U.S. on Iran strikes Diplomatic efforts to stop hostilities unsuccessful, UN calls strikes dangerous escalation By Phil Stewart and Steve Holland After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran is a major escalation of the conflict and risks opening a new era of instability in the Middle East. 'The strikes were a spectacular military success,' Trump said in a televised address. 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' In a speech that lasted just over three minutes, Trump said Iran's future held 'either peace or tragedy,' and there were many other targets that could be hit by the U.S. military. 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' The U.S. reached out to Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the U.S. plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported. Trump said U.S. forces struck Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. He told Fox News' Sean Hannity show that six bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. U.S. B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Fordow is gone.' Reuters had reported earlier on Saturday the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried beneath a mountain south of Tehran. Given its fortification, it will likely be days, if not longer, before the impact of the strikes is known. An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed part of the Fordow site was attacked by 'enemy airstrikes.' However, Mohammad Manan Raisi, a lawmaker for Qom, near Fordow, told the semi-official Fars news agency the facility had not been seriously damaged. Iranian media quoted Iran's nuclear body as saying there were no signs of contamination after the attacks, and no danger to residents living nearby. Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran's state broadcaster, said Iran had evacuated the three sites some time ago. 'The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots,' he told the channel. DIPLOMACY UNSUCCESSFUL Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his 'bold decision'. 'History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons,' Netanyahu said. The strikes came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched the attacks on Iran saying it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have so far failed. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Saturday's strikes a 'dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security.' Both sides' attacks on energy infrastructure, including by Israel on Iran's South Pars gas field and the risk of a complete shutdown of the OPEC member's oil production, as well as Iran targeting shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, have fueled fears of a spike in oil prices and impacts on economies worldwide. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was due to hold a news conference at the Pentagon early on Sunday. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have argued that Trump must receive permission from the U.S. Congress before committing the U.S. military to any combat against Iran. Republican Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi applauded the operation but cautioned that the U.S. now faced 'very serious choices ahead.' One Republican lawmaker, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, simply said, 'This is not constitutional.' Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was 'absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.' Many in Trump's MAGA movement oppose U.S. entanglement in foreign military operations. Trump ally Steve Bannon said on his War Room podcast that the president's address was probably not what a lot of MAGA supporters wanted to hear, and he called on Trump to offer a 'deeper explanation' for why U.S. involvement was necessary. Trump-aligned commentator Charlie Kirk posted on X: 'America stands with President Trump.' Israel launched attacks on June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed and 1,272 people injured, according to local authorities.
