Trump says Iran will face more military strikes unless it makes peace
President Donald Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and warned of additional attacks if it didn’t make peace.
“If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities were announced earlier.
Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“For 40 years Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel,” Trump said. “They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs.”
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization confirms strikes
Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” it said in its statement.
Netanyahu welcomes US strikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.
“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.
Netanyahu said the U.S. “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
Japan evacuates group from Iran
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said that 21 Japanese residents of Iran and their family members arrived safely in Baku, the capital of the neighboring Azerbaijan, after evacuating by bus. It was Japan’s second evacuation from Iran.
US used ‘bunker buster’ bomb, Trump tells Hannity
The U.S. dropped six “bunker buster” bombs to strike the deeply buried Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Fox News’ Sean Hannity says President Donald Trump told him in a phone call.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses and significantly degraded multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordo plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the 30,000-pound bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to penetrate underground and then explode.
The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.
If confirmed, this would be the first combat use of the weapon.
Republican leaders in Congress praise Trump’s decision to strike Iran
U. S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who was briefed by the White House ahead of the strike, said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated ... That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iranian regime’s “misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk and Republican from South Carolina, wrote online: “This was the right call. The regime deserves it.”
Meanwhile, elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the U.S. Congress.
“Horrible judgment,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.”
Said conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional.”
Nonproliferation group condemns attacks
The Washington-based Arms Control Association, which focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, said the attack was an “irresponsible departure from Trump’s pursuit of diplomacy and increases the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.”
“The U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, including the deeply fortified, underground Fordo uranium enrichment complex, may temporarily set back Iran’s nuclear program, but in the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy,” it warned.
Iran’s state-run news agency confirms attacks targeting Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks also targeted the country’s Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.
IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahan’s deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around the sites. He did not elaborate.
Another official confirmed an attack targeting Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site.
Iran’s state-run news agency acknowledges attack on nuclear facility
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency early Sunday acknowledged an attack on the country’s Fordo nuclear site.
Quoting a statement from Iran’s Qom province, IRNA said: “A few hours ago, when Qom air defenses were activated and hostile targets were identified, part of the Fordo nuclear site was attacked by enemies.”
The IRNA report did not elaborate.
Irani news agencies report that air defenses opened fire near Fordo
Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a provincial official in Qom that air defense did recently fire in an attack believed to target the area around the Fordo facility, but offered no other information.
The semiofficial Fars news agency, also close to the Guard, quoted another official saying air defenses opened fire near Isfahan and explosions had been heard.
Fars also quoted the same official in Qom province, saying air defenses fired around Fordo.
Trump claimed attack threatens to reignite US war with Houthi rebels
The attack claimed by U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to reignite America’s war with Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” able to launch regular attacks.
The Houthis on Saturday warned they would resume attack American ships in the Red Sea corridor if the U.S. joined the Israeli campaign.
Trump describes bombings as a 'very successful military operation'
President Donald Trump posted on social media that he will be delivering a 10 p.m. EDT address on the U.S. strikes from the White House.
The president described the bombings as a “very successful military operation in Iran.”
“This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR,” Trump added.
Several Republican senators praise Trump after US bombing of Iran sites
Several Republican senators are praising President Donald Trump after he announced Saturday evening that the U.S. military bombed three sites in Iran.
“Well done, President Trump,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, posted on X. Texas Sen. John Cornyn called it a “courageous decision.” Alabama Sen. Katie Britt said she stands by Trump and called the bombings “strong and surgical.”
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin posted: “America first, always.”
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania also praised the attacks on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”
One House Republican criticized Trump’s decision. “This is not Constitutional,” posted Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime opponent of U.S. involvement in foreign wars.
US strikes 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air campaign
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel ’s effort to decapitate the country’s nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.
The decision to directly involve the U.S. comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
