The United States launched attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday, June 21, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social, as the Israel-Iran war entered the second week.
Trump said the U.S. had achieved a “spectacular military success” in bombing three Iranian nuclear sites on June 21.
In a live address, Trump called Tehran’s nuclear program a “horribly destructive enterprise” and called Iran the “bully of the Middle East.”
The conflict began a week ago when Israel started conducting airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites, primarily targeting uranium enrichment facilities to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The two countries have been engaged in aerial strikes and Trump had been pondering U.S. involvement for the past week.
“Congratulations to our great American Warriors,” Trump wrote. “There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
Watch Trump address the nation following the attack on Iran
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” wrote Trump on Truth Social earlier in the day on June 21. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”
“Congratulations to our great American Warriors,” Trump wrote. “There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”
The U.S. and its regional allies braced for possible Iranian retaliation as different members of Congress condemned and celebrated the attack.
Here’s what we know now about the U.S. bombing of Iranian sites
Trump said the nuclear facilities were “completely and totally obliterated”
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said in a live address, threatening further strikes if Tehran did not agree to U.S. terms. He said Tehran’s nuclear program was a “horribly destructive enterprise.”
Trump earlier in the evening announced U.S. airstrikes on Iranian uranium enrichment sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan, writing on Truth Social on June 21 that “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulates Trump on ‘bold decision’
Republican lawmaker said Iran strike is ‘not constitutional’
Trump’s decision came under immediate criticism from at least one Republican in Congress: Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian who represents Kentucky.
Massie shared Trump’s post on social media with the message, “This is not Constitutional.”
Massie had previously introduced a bill to prevent Trump from going to war with Iran without congressional authorization, which drew cosponsors that included progressive Democrats such as Rep. Ro Khanna of California.
The GOP lawmaker was one of two members of Trump’s political party who voted against his tax bill in the House of Representatives last month. Trump called him a “grandstander” ahead of the vote and said he should be “voted out of office.”
Florida Democrat calls decision to attack ‘reckless’
Florida Democrat Congressman Maxwell Frost of Orlando called Trump’s decision to attack “reckless, dangerous.”
“Trump’s decision to unilaterally drop bombs on multiple nuclear sites in Iran is reckless, dangerous and above all—blatantly unconstitutional to do so without Congressional approval,” Frost said in a statement.
“To claim ‘now is the time for peace’ after bombing a country is complete nonsense and goes against the will of the vast majority of American people who don’t want to get involved in another endless and deadly conflict in the Middle East.
“This is a dangerous escalation that puts countless lives at risk, including American troops in the region. Congress must reconvene immediately to prevent Trump from pushing us into an all-out disastrous war.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls for Trump’s impeachment
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York posted on X, formerly Twitter: “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Will Iran counterattack?
Tehran could respond to Trump’s strikes by launching counterattacks on U.S. military bases in the Middle East, current and former U.S. officials say.
American bases in Gulf countries and Iraq and Syria could become targets, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro told USA TODAY before Trump attacked Iran.
Iran could also target regional energy facilities and block oil and gas shipments from crossing the Strait of Hormuz, said Shapiro, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the Biden administration.
Roughly 40,000 American troops are stationed in the region. Trump warned in a Truth Social post of “far greater” force against Iran if it pursues retaliation.
Muslim civil rights group condemns U.S. strikes on Iran
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, blasted President Trump’s attack as an “illegal and unjustified act of war” that favors the wishes of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over the American people and threatens to drag the United States into a wider conflict.
“We condemn President Trump’s illegal and unjustified act of war against Iran,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement. “This attack, carried out under pressure from the out-of-control Israeli government, took place despite the longstanding conclusion by our nation’s intelligence community that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons.”
“Just as President Bush started a disastrous war in Iraq pushed by war hawks, neoconservatives, and Israeli leaders like Netanyahu, President Trump has attacked Iran based on the same type of false information put forward by those who consistently seek to drag our nation into unnecessary and catastrophic wars,” Awad said.
Pete Hegseth to hold a press conference from Pentagon on July 22
Hours after the U.S. military launched strikes against three nuclear sites in Iran, President Trump addressed the nation from the White House calling the operation a “spectacular military success.”
He said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will hold a press conference at 8 am on July 22 at the Pentagon.
Trump said the mission’s 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.”
“If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” said Trump. “Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”
State department began evacuating American citizens from Israel and West Bank
Earlier in the day, the State Department began evacuating American citizens and permanent residents from Israel and the West Bank, U.S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on social media.
“The Department of State has begun assisted departure flights from Israel,” Huckabee wrote in a post on X on June 21 asking people seeking government assistance to fill out a form.
What happened before the U.S. struck Iranian sites
The strikes followed days of Israeli bomb and drone strikes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at disrupting Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon, to which Iran responded by launching missiles at Israeli civilian targets. Netanyahu had been pressing President Donald Trump to enter the war, knowing the Pentagon possesses the ability to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability.
In his first term, Trump pulled out of the Iran deal brokered by President Barack Obama in 2015, saying it did not do enough to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. As the war between Iran and Israel has spiraled in recent days, he has repeated that Iran “cannot” get a nuclear weapon.
Iran has threatened that the U.S. would suffer “irreparable damage” if it becomes directly involved in the conflict.
The U.S. “should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on June 18.
How the U.S. penetrated Iranian nuclear site
The U.S. Air Force has the unique capability to destroy deeply buried, fortified structures like those that house Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or GBU-57, has a “high-performance steel alloy” warhead case that allows the weapon to stay intact as it burrows deep into the ground, according to Pentagon documents.
In 2012, the Air Force conducted five tests of the weapon at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Data and visual inspections showed that each bombing run “effectively prosecuted the targets.”
There’s only one warplane in the Air Force that can carry the bomb. Each B-2 Spirit stealth bomber based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri can hold two of the penetrators.
Israel had sought the Pentagon to drop the bombs because their penetrating weapons cannot reach the depth necessary to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: The move comes after Iran and Israel have been engaged in aerial strikes.
Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
