How Donald Trump hammered Iran's nuke bases with bunker buster bombs and missiles fired from submarines
DONALD Trump has blitzed Iran's nuclear bases to stop the Ayatollah's doomsday project in a complex operation from air and sea.
The president has declared the strike a
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Donald Trump in the Situation Room during the strike
Credit: Reuters
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Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines were used to strike two bases (stock image)
Credit: AFP
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The B-2A Spirit was used to carry the bunker busting bombs
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To do that, Trump used some of the US military's most advanced weapons.
Six 30,000lb bunker busting bombs - officially called the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) - were used to hit the most difficult target, Trump told Fox News.
They were dropped from B-2 bombers flying high in the atmosphere for 37 hours all the way from Missouri, the
The lethal bombers even refuelled several times in the air so they didn't have to land.
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B-2 bombers were the only weapon which could do the job - because the Ayatollah's prized
Israel has been unable to destroy the site by itself - with Trump declaring on Saturday that only America could destroy it from above.
Now, Trump claims he has done so - with six bunker busters able to bury deep through the rock and hit the base.
The missiles - 20ft long and carrying a 5,000lb warhead - were dropped by the B-2s, hit the earth, and buried themselves deep into the rock before they exploded.
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Iran claims that it knew the attack was coming and evacuated anything of value from the base.
But two other of Iran's nuclear facilities were also hit - Natanz and Isfahan.
How Trump COULD destroy Iran's prize nuclear bunker
They were blitzed by 30 Tomahawk missiles fired from submarines 400miles away.
Tomahawk missiles are a long-range weapon which can be fired from land or sea and can travel at least 1,000miles.
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The US keeps a naval base across the Persian Gulf from Iran in Bahrain.
The complex at Natanz holds Iran's largest uranium enrichment plant - crucial for getting the material to weapons grade.
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A US submarine - capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles
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Isfahan nuclear power plant
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One B-2 also dropped two bunker busters on Natanz, according to the New York Times.
Isfahan is thought to hold a repository of near bomb-grade nuclear material.
Both Natanz and Isfahan had previously been hit by Israel.
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The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, previously said Iran's biggest atomic plant at Natanz was knocked out by the first waves of the Israeli offensive.
Mr Grossi said: "The above-ground part of the pilot fuel enrichment plant, where Iran was producing uranium enriched up to 60% U-235, has been destroyed".
Uranium-235 is essential both for
nuclear power
stations and also for
nuclear weapons
.
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Trump addressing the nation revealed America had 'obliterated' Fordow
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Posting on Truth Social, President Donald Trump announced that US bombers targeted Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan enrichment sites.
The bombings come just two days after Trump said he would decide "within two weeks" whether to join key ally Israel in attacking Iran.
In a nationally televised speech at the White House, Trump said: "Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.
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'Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.
"There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days."
Iran's Nuclear Sites
Arak plant
- satellite pictures of this plant near the Iranian town of Arak surfaced over 20 years ago.
It contains a heavy-water reactor with plutonium that can be used for nuclear bombs.
Bushehr nuclear power station
- this power plant is a combination of Russian and German engineering.
It's nuclear reactor is operating at 100% power and the site is home to enriched uranium, used for nuclear bombs.
Gachin uranium mine
- home to uranium ore concentrate, or yellowcake, which can be transformed into enriched uranium ready for nuke bomb assembling.
Isfahan conversion plant
- yellowcake is converted here into three dangerous substances.
Hexafluoride gase used in the enrichment process, uranium oxide used to fuel reactors and metal used in the cores of nuclear bombs.
Natanz uranium enrichment plant
- this is Iran's largest enrichment base.
It's made up of three underground buildings and is closely watched by the international community.
Parchin military site
- south of Tehran, this site is focused on research and the production of ammo, rockets and explosives.
Concerns have been raised that it is also used as part of Iran's nuclear weapon development.
Qom uranium enrichment plant
- a heavily fortified and initially secret facility where Iran carries out uranium enrichment.
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Forcing Iran and Russia closer together is not the only way US strikes could impact on Putin. Ingram said: 'The escalating conflict helps Russia by moving Russia-Ukraine further down the agenda so that people aren't focusing on it. 'It also ties up international geopolitical organisations and politicians in a complex Middle East situation - so again they don't have the capacity to focus on what Russia's doing in Ukraine ." Chip Chapman said that the most immediate threat to western allies would be if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz - which could even see the UK dragged into the conflict. He said: "20 percent of the world's oil runs through the strait. Closing it could have huge implications for the oil price. 'And that's where the Brits may get involved. If the Iranians were to try and close the Strait of Hormuz, there would be a definite ask from the Americans to the Brits." 7 President Donald Trump ordered major strikes against Iranian nuclear targets Credit: AP 7 Iran struck back almost immediately with waves of missiles into Israel - causing serious damage in Tel Aviv Credit: Getty Russia would likely back Iran's decision to close the strait, because an increase in oil prices would help fund its activities, Ingram explained. For many years Iran enjoyed considerable power in the Middle East through its proxies across the region. Two of the key players were Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon - but over the past 20 months Israel has seriously crippled them. However, Ingram says the Houthis in Yemen still pose a threat to the world other. He said: "I think we will see a massive uptake in Houthi activity in disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea." Experts have also warned that the strikes could prove a "slippery slope" and commit the US to pursuing more extreme military goals in Iran - such as overthrowing the regime. 7 Houthi supporters hold anti-US and Israel placards during a protest this week Credit: EPA 7 Missiles launched from Iran are intercepted following the US strikes Credit: Reuters Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School, said: "Beware mission creep, aiming for regime change and democratization campaigns . "You'll find the bones of many failed US moral missions buried in Middle East sands." US-driven regime change would likely drive a wedge further between the West and the Islamic world - as was the case with Iraq - the experts suggest. Ingram said: "If there Ayatollah was killed it could change the whole way the government is set up in Iran, like we had with the fall of the Shah. "Then you whatever comes in next could be worse than what's in now and more polarised." 7 The US strikes could also prove a spark to other flash points around the world - such as the China-Taiwan tensions. Ingram said 'China will likely sit back and wait to see what's happening, to begin with. "Xi Jinping might think the international community is so tied up in the Middle East, that he has a window of opportunity, and he might try and take Taiwan. 'The world is not just a more febrile place, but the potentials for a series of events to happen to take us into a global conflict have just become even more complex to try and analyse. 'We haven't moved away from conflict. We have moved away from a despot regime getting towns on nuclear weapons, but it's not made the world immediately safer. 'What happens over the coming days and weeks will let us understand as to whether we have moved back from the brink of a global conflict or move further forward.'
