'Historic moment' - Trump says US strikes three sites in Iran

Summary

• International media reports say US military strikes Iran, no acknowledgement from Tehran.

• Trump describes it as a ‘historic moment for US, Israel and the world’.

President Donald Trump said the US military has struck three sites in Iran, but there has been no immediate acknowledgement from Tehran, according to international media reports.

“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 social media.

“All planes are now outside of Iran's space. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home,” he added.

In a subsequent post, Trump described it as a “historic moment for the United States, Israel and the world”.

“Iran must now agree to end this war. Thank you,” he added.

Trump also congratulated the “great American warriors”, adding that no other military in the world could have done this.

“Now is the time for peace! Thank you for your attention to this matter," he said.

AFP reported Trump stating that B-2 stealth bombers were used, but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped.

The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.

Bunker-busting bombs

Earlier, US officials said multiple B-2 stealth bombers had left their base in Missouri and were heading west over the Pacific. The bombers can carry giant “bunker-busting” bombs.

The US reportedly dropped six of these bombs on the Fordo nuclear facility, and carried out dozens of submarine-based cruise missile attacks on two other sites

Trump detailed the strikes to Fox News host Sean Hannity, saying that each of the bunker-buster bombs weighed 15 tonnes and was dropped from American B-2 stealth bombers.

In all, 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from US submarines at the nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan.

The Fordo nuclear facility is an underground uranium enrichment site near Qom - Iran’s deepest and most fortified nuclear installation designed to withstand conventional airstrikes.

US be warned

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the US on Wednesday that any strikes targeting the Islamic Republic would “result in irreparable damage for them”.

Echoing this warning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei cautioned that “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region”.

A senior Houthi official also warned that the US airstrikes mark the “beginning of a major war” in West Asia.

Houthi political spokesperson Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said: “This attack is not just a provocation - it is a declaration of war against the entire axis of resistance. The US is now officially a party to this conflict.”

According to reports, he added that the Houthis and their allies “will not remain silent” and will respond to any threat against Iran, which they regard as a strategic ally in the struggle against “Zionist-American hegemony”.

The statement also called on Arab and Islamic countries to “take a firm stance” against the US action, warning that further attacks could trigger an “uncontrollable chain reaction”.

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