US strikes Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran warns of ‘everlasting consequences’

The United States has attacked three sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel’s war aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a long-time foe which has prompted fears of a wider regional conflict.
US President Donald Trump asserted that Iran’s key nuclear sites had been “completely and fully obliterated”, in an address to the nation from the White House. There was no independent damage assessment.
The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz sites, but it insisted its nuclear programme will not be stopped.
Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog said there are no immediate signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations following the strikes.
It is not clear whether the US will continue attacking Iran alongside its ally Israel, which has been engaged in a nine-day war with Iran.
Additional strikes
Mr Trump acted without congressional authorisation, and he warned there will be additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against US forces.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,” he said.
Iran’s top diplomat, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, warned in a post on X that the US attacks “will have everlasting consequences” and that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate.
The foreign ministry in Tehran said Washington had “betrayed diplomacy” with the military strikes, and that “the US has itself launched a dangerous war against Iran”.
Its statement added: “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to resist with full force against US military aggression and the crimes committed by this rogue regime, and to defend Iran’s security and national interests.”
Hours after the American attacks, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a barrage of 40 missiles at Israel, including its Khorramshahr-4, which can carry multiple warheads.
Israeli authorities reported that more than 80 people suffered mostly minor injuries, though one multi-storey building in Tel Aviv was significantly damaged, with its entire facade torn away to expose the apartments inside. Houses across the street were almost completely destroyed.
Following the Iranian barrage, Israel’s military said it had “swiftly neutralised” the Iranian missile launchers that had fired, and that it had begun a series of strikes towards military targets in western Iran.
Iran has maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Mr Trump and Israeli leaders have argued Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, making it an imminent threat.
The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel that significantly degraded Iran’s air defences and offensive missile capabilities, and damaged its nuclear enrichment facilities.
Bunker-buster bomb
But US and Israeli officials have said American B-2 stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb that only they have been configured to carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground.
Mr Trump appears to have made the calculation – at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republicans – that Israel’s operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear programme, perhaps permanently.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Mr 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, Fordo. All planes are safely on their way home.”
Mr Trump later added: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
Airspace
Israel announced on Sunday that it had closed its airspace to both inbound and outbound flights in the wake of the US attacks.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation but an update is expected on Sunday morning.
But one US official said the attack used bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant that is built deep into a mountain. The weapons are designed to penetrate the ground before exploding.
In addition, US submarines launched about 30 Tomahawk missiles, according to another US official.
The decision to attack was a risky one for Mr Trump, who won the White House partially on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
But he has vowed he will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders to give up its nuclear programme peacefully.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Yes, no one wants the Iranians to have nuclear weapons. However, at the moment there is more reason to be concerned that an American president has ordered strikes without consulting Congress. As the article states US intelligence agencies have told Trump that the Iranians are “not actively pursuing a bomb” that probably would have meant Trump being told no to the strikes. Trump is a narcissist who has too much power and that is a danger to all of us.
Don’t forget how much trump bigged up his opponents in starting wars he would not.
And he yanked the deal that had checks on Iran in his first term, in many ways he created this.
Netanyahu playing trump like a cheap banjo. Farages best mate in the US is an absolute dunce.
How did it go in Iraq? How is Afghanistan going? How did it go in Vietnam for the US?
He bypassed so many “protections” that should be in place in the US to prevent presidents doing this and is now off the lead. Greenland next?
US better grow a spine and Art 25 this SOB into the stone age.
So Putin bombing nuclear sites = bad
Trump bombing nuclear sites = good
I’ll be sure to remember to only breath in the good nuclear dust,
Trump withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal just to spite Obama. This is entirely his doing. No British or American soldier should have to die for Donald Trump, especially when he wouldn’t do so in Vietnam because of bonespurs!! All those people who said “Trump never started any wars”, look how wrong you are!! Intelligence suggests that Iran was NOT building nuclear weapons. There were also signatories of the Non-proliferation teaty, unlike Israel. This is a war crime, pure and simple. Just like Iraq in 2003, or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine it is a violation of the UN Charter which… Read more »
It’s costing the American taxpayer 280,000000dollars a day to replenish the ‘iron dome’
Even then, they cannot intercept hypersonic missiles.
Scrapping medicaid but pay for missiles.
How is that hunt for a Nobel Peace Prize going…Pakistan!
US should be worried. They put a 22 year old in charge of counter terror with no previous on any security roles.