WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, directly joining Israel ’s war aimed at decapitating the country’s nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals.
The decision to directly involve the U.S. comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country’s Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate.
Here is the latest:
Quiet outside the White House as Trump describes Iran strikes
After Trump spoke to the country about the bombing in Iran, the White House had an eerie calm.
There was darkness outside the West Wing, other than bright TV crew lights and yellow lights from the nearby Eisenhower Executive Office Building overlooking the White House.
A siren rang in the background in city traffic that continued without pausing for the historic moment.
Trump’s speech came on in the overhead speakers in the White House press area, only for his voice to give way to a sudden silence after he thanked God.
Trump warns Iran ‘there are many targets left’
U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he will not hesitate to strike other targets in Iran if peace does not come quickly in the Middle East.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” he said.
Trump said that while the nuclear facilities struck by the U.S. on Saturday were the most “lethal,” “there are many targets left.”
“If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” he added.
Trump says he worked ‘as a team’ with Israel’s prime minister to strike Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump said he worked “as a team” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was “perhaps” like “no team has worked before.”
But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the U.S. could have pulled off the attack.
Trump says Iran will face more military strikes unless it makes peace
President Donald Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and warned of additional attacks if it didn’t make peace.
“If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities were announced earlier.
Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
“For 40 years Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel,” Trump said. “They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs.”
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization confirms strikes
Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” it said in its statement.
Netanyahu welcomes US strikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.
“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.
Netanyahu said the U.S. “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
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