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.
“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 air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
The strikes are a perilous decision for the U.S. as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
Trump prepares to address the nation after the U.S. attack on Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that he will address the nation following the airstrike on Iran. He stated that the address will take place at 10 p.m. local time in Washington, D.C. The address is expected to reveal further details about the U.S. strategy following the attack on Iran.
According to international media outlet Al Jazeera, Trump’s address could signal the direction of upcoming diplomatic and military developments.
Earlier, Trump had declared that the United States had successfully carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan, and others. He mentioned that all aircraft involved in the operation had already exited Iranian airspace.
“This is a historic moment for the United States, Israel, and the world,” he wrote on Truth Social. He further added, “Iran must now agree to end this war.”
