Middle East on Edge as U.S. Strikes Iran’s Key Nuclear Sites
U.S. forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites, President Donald Trump said late on Saturday, marking a major escalation of the conflict amid risks of opening a new era of instability in the Middle East.
Trump’s decision to join “Israel” in its attacks against Iran comes after days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said in a speech that lasted just over three minutes, adding that 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 Republican president 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, which is buried beneath a mountain south of Tehran, 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 news agency, 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.”
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.
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.”
The strikes came as “Israel” and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat.
At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since “Israel” began its aggression, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry.
According to Reuters news agency, Trump’s slogan of “peace through strength” will certainly be tested as never before, especially with his opening of a new military front after failing to meet his campaign promises to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
“Trump is back in the war business,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group. “I am not sure anyone in Moscow, Tehran or Beijing ever believed his spiel that he is a peacemaker. It always looked more like a campaign phrase than a strategy.”
