The United States has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, a significant escalation in the ongoing war begun Iran and Israel which began 10 days ago after Israel launched a volley of strikes against Tehran.
One of the targets hit by US bombers was Fordo, a heavily fortified uranium enrichment plant buried deep inside a mountain, while two other nuclear sites – Natanz and Isfahan – were also hit. The US were in “full co-ordination” with Israel in planning the bombing, reports say.
Iran’s foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi condemned the US strikes, saying that the US had attacked “Iran’s peaceful nuclear installations” and that this “will have everlasting consequences”.
“The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT by attacking Iran’s peaceful nuclear installations,” he posted on X.
“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior.”
“In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”
Speaking this morning, US President Donald Trump said that the US military had carried out “massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime”, claiming the strikes were carried out because Iran was a “nuclear threat”. Israel welcomed the US strikes, with Trump confirming that he and worked closely with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the bombings.
BBC said the US reportedly used heavy bunker-busting bombs dropped from B-2 strategic stealth bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
BBC’s US partner CBS said that “the US contacted Iran through diplomatic channels on Saturday to say the air strikes were all it intended to do and that “regime change efforts” were “not planned”, according to US officials”.
While Israel and Trump insisted that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon, US intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard told the US Congress in March that the assessment of America’s intelligence community was that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. The UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also says it has not found evidence to suggest Tehran is developing nuclear weapons.