Donald Trump last night ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions with a series of daring air strikes. American B-2 stealth planes carrying 3,000-pound “bunker-busting” bombs struck at three key Iranian nuclear facilities, marking a significant shift in US involvement after days of uncertainty. They include the mountain-buried bunker at Fordow, where Iran was holding 3,000 nuclear centrifuges, Natanz, a major uranium enrichment plant previously hit by Israel, and a site near Isfahan, believed to store near-bomb-grade uranium. All have been “obliterated”, said the US President.
Announcing the attacks on Truth Social, he said: “All planes are now outside of Iranian airspace. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. There is no other military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” And in a speech delivered at the White House last night, a jubilant-sounding President Donald Trump, who had vowed ten years ago never to allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons, said the sites had been “completely obliterated”.
He added: “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”
He first vowed never to allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons in 2015 during his first presidential campaign.
Trump’s resolve was clear: “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their speciality,” he said.
“We lost over 1,000 people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate.”
Referencing a 2020 drone strike which killed the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the so-called Quds Force, he said, “So many were killed by their general, Qasem Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.”
The strikes, which happened around 2.30am local time in Iran on Sunday, came just a day after the US President gave the Islamic regime a two-week ultimatum.
On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met counterparts from the E-3 nations, Britain, France, and Germany, in a diplomatic effort to de-escalate tensions.
Iran had so far refused to accept a US demand to buy enriched uranium from abroad, insisting enrichment at home was a sovereign right.
Both the US and Israel stated Iran was developing nuclear weapons, a claim backed by a recent IAEA report.
With Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sheltering in a bunker in northern Tehran, the regime was last night weighing its options.
Though its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas have been crippled by war with Israel, its militias in Iraq could still strike US bases, though this would risk retaliation, it could blockade the Strait of Hormuz, or target regional actors like Saudi Arabia.
Alternatively, said former UK ambassador to Yemen Edmund Fitton-Brown last night, it might act as if the strikes never happened.
“If you consider how contained this attack was and how specific it was, it could be seen not as Trump entering the war on Israel’s side but, rather, doing what he promised to do ten years ago,” he said.
“And now that he has flexed his muscles and shown that America has this overwhelming capability, he could decide it’s effectively mission accomplished and leave it for Israel to do the rest. This leaves Iran with the option of just continuing the war with Israel and hoping that they’ll be able to get through with something more damaging than they’ve been able to get through with so far.”
He added: “Even so, I don’t think there are any good options for the Iranians. Their response has been decreasingly effective. Their ability to hit Israel is clearly depleted.”
Israel has been targeting Iranian strategic sites and key military and scientific figures since launching Operation Rising Lion on June 13.
The conflict’s toll is heavy, with Iran reporting 430 deaths and 3,500 injuries, while Israel announced 24 civilian deaths and 1,272 injuries.
Ambassador Fitton-Brown added: “Iran has very few palatable options and whichever one of them it pursues could lead to regime change.”