US strikes Iran
President Donald Trump said US air strikes yesterday had "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, and warned of more attacks to come if Tehran does not seek peace.
Tehran vowed to defend itself and responded with a volley of missiles at Israel that wounded dozens of people and destroyed buildings in its commercial hub, Tel Aviv.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But, perhaps in an effort to avert all-out war with the superpower, it had yet to follow through on its main threats of retaliation - to target US bases.
However, Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader, yesterday said that the United States "no longer" has a place in the Middle East after the strikes. He also said the bases used by US forces to launch the attacks "will be considered legitimate targets."
Iran also called the US attack a grave violation of international law that would have "everlasting consequences".
World powers, including China and Russia, and Iran's Arab neighbours, strongly condemned the US air strikes, warning of serious repercussions and calling for a return to diplomacy.
In a televised address to the nation from the White House after the United States joined Israel's air campaign against Tehran, Trump called the US attacks a "spectacular military success."
Trump had earlier stunned the world by announcing on social media that US aircraft had struck Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, plus the Natanz and Isfahan facilities.
But the fresh US military entanglement comes despite Trump's promises to avoid another "forever war" in the Middle East and a two-week time for diplomacy. Iran has vowed to retaliate against US forces in the region if Washington gets involved.
We devastated the Iranian nuclear programme... This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change.
"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace," said Trump.
"If they do not, future attacks will be far greater, and a lot easier," added Trump, who was flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his address to US audiences.
He also reached out to Israeli leadership, saying, "I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team. Like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel."
"This cannot continue," Trump added. "There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
Trump said earlier on his Truth Social site that a "full payload of BOMBS" was dropped on the underground facility at Fordo, describing it as the "primary site."
Earlier on Saturday, there were reports that US B-2 bombers -- which carry so-called "bunker buster" bombs -- were headed out of the United States.
According to Fox News, the B-2s took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri around midnight. While initial chatter suggested the aircraft were headed west toward Guam, its national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin noted the true flight path was likely east, directly toward Iran, in what appears to have been a "calculated deception".
Describing the complex operation, dubbed "Midnight Hammer," Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine later said the "main strike package comprised of 7 B-2 Spirit bombers" flying 18 hours from the US mainland to Iran with multiple aerial refuellings.
The Fordow complex, buried deep beneath a mountain near Qom and considered the crown jewel of Iran's nuclear program, was the primary target. Natanz and Isfahan, both core to Iran's uranium enrichment infrastructure, were also hit.
According to Griffin, Israeli forces spent the past week systematically degrading Iran's air defences and missile systems, taking out surface-to-air batteries, command targets, and missile launchers. Since June 12, Israel has eliminated dozens of senior Iranian military officials and more than half of Iran's mobile ballistic missile capabilities, gaining what officials now describe as air superiority over Iranian skies.
The US strike package included B-2 bombers escorted by F-22 and F-16 fighter jets, and supported by EA-18 Growler electronic warfare aircraft. US Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean also intercepted incoming missiles during the operation, Fox News reported.
Fordow had two entrances and one ventilation shaft, which likely served as the entrance points for the Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), sources said.
Additionally, 30 Tomahawk missiles launched from US submarines were used in the attacks on the Natanz and Isfahan facilities. There is speculation that the missiles were shot from Ohio-class submarines, but there has been no confirmation.
Meanwhile, Israel's News 12 reported that Israel reportedly "knew for several days" that the US was planning to strike Iran. It also said that the two countries deliberately made it seem they were at odds to lull Iran into a false sense of security.
"They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran's) nuclear facilities," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. He said he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Foreign ministers from countries of the OIC yesterday urged Israel to end its "aggression" towards Iran, without mentioning the US strikes on the Islamic republic's nuclear sites.
In a step towards what is widely seen as Iran's most effective threat to hurt the West, its parliament approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf where nearly a quarter of the oil shipped around the world passes through narrow waters that Iran controls.
Iran's Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Attempting to choke off Gulf oil by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite almost certain conflict with the US Navy's massive Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf and tasked with keeping it open.
Earlier, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said radiation system data and field surveys do not show signs of contamination or danger to residents near the sites.
Another official said Fordow has "long been evacuated and has not suffered any irreversible damage".
The US strikes push the Middle East to the brink of a major new conflagration in a region already aflame for more than 20 months with wars in Gaza and Lebanon and a toppled dictator in Syria.
Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the strikes, saying that "America has been truly unsurpassed."
Hours after the strikes, US leadership tried to strike a conciliatory tone, saying the US was not at war with Iran.
"We're not at war with Iran -- we're at war with Iran's nuclear program," the US vice-president told ABC.
The US defence chief also urged Iranian leaders to seek peace to avoid further attacks.
"We devastated the Iranian nuclear program," Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding that the operation "did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people."
"This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change," he added.
However, the Israeli military said the attacks against Iran will continue as they have more goals to achieve. It said it launched more attacks on Iran's defence structures yesterday.
Meanwhile, three areas of Israel, including coastal hub Tel Aviv, were hit yesterday morning during waves of Iranian missile attacks, with at least 23 people injured, according to rescue services and police.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the US strikes a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge."
Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump did not seek Congressional approval for the strikes and risked US "entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Dhaka yesterday expressed deep concern over the recent attacks targeting nuclear facilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any actions that could escalate tensions in the region.
It also said that the first group of Bangladeshi nationals willing to return from conflict-hit Iran is expected to arrive home next week.
Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb.
The US strikes came as European powers stepped up diplomacy to defuse the crisis. Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany had met Araghchi in Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume nuclear talks with the United States that had been derailed by the war.
While it remains unclear if and how Iran will respond to the US attacks, the conflict could quickly spiral to engulf the entire region.
Iran and its allies in Yemen, Lebanon could attack US bases and interests across the Gulf, while Iraqi groups allied with Tehran may also get involved in the fighting, destabilising the country that is seeing some relative calm after decades of bloodshed since the 2003 American invasion.
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