In a White House address on the evening of June 21, President Donald Trump touted the success of a series of U.S. strikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites, and warned of even greater attacks to come should Iran choose to retaliate.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor [of terrorism]. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump announced.
The strikes mark a direct U.S. foray into a military campaign that Israel started a week earlier, in a surprise attack in the early morning hours on June 13. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had cast his country’s surprise operation as a move to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and defang its offensive nuclear capabilities.
These Israeli strikes came one day before Iranian and U.S. representatives were set to hold a sixth round of talks with the United States looking to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Iran pulled out of those talks following the Israeli attack.
Thus far, Iran has responded to Israel’s attack by launching waves of ballistic missiles and explosive attack drones at Israel. Some of these weapons have begun to break through Israel’s air defense networks, causing damage, injuries, and deaths.
As he delivered his White House address, Trump warned Iran not to continue fighting.
“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,” the president said.
Trump said there are many targets left in Iran, but the ones that U.S. forces struck on Saturday were the most difficult.
While the initial Israeli operation had inflicted extensive damage to Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure, the Iranian uranium enrichment facility at Fordow had remained a difficult target for Israeli forces to eliminate on their own.
The Fordow facility is situated hundreds of feet underground, nestled into a mountainous region of Iran. Military analysts assessed that U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers carrying 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs known as GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators would be one of the best ways to take out the fortified nuclear site.
Earlier on Saturday, reports emerged indicating B-2 bombers had departed the United States overnight between June 20 and 21, heading west.
On Saturday evening, Fox News host Sean Hannity reported that he had spoken with Trump following the U.S. strikes. Hannity said the president told him that B-2 bombers dropped five or six heavy bunker busters on the Fordow facility, while U.S. submarines fired 30 Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities.
In his address, Trump said Iran’s key nuclear facilities have now “been completely and totally obliterated.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency has confirmed that the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan facilities had been hit.
The full extent of the damage to the Iranian nuclear facilities cannot be independently confirmed at this time.
As he concluded his remarks, Trump announced Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would hold a press conference on Sunday morning to provide more details about the operation.
In his own televised address on Saturday night, Netanyahu thanked Trump for ordering the U.S. strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites. Netanyahu said Israel had done some “amazing things” in the span of its military campaign against Iran since June 13. “But in tonight’s actions against Iran’s nuclear facility, America has been truly unsurpassed.”
“History will report President Trump actively denied the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons,” Netanyahu added. “His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace.”
On Sunday, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued a statement condemning the U.S. strikes as a violation of international law. According to Iran’s state-run PressTV, the Iranian nuclear agency vowed it would not allow the U.S. strikes to halt the progress of its program.
Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
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