Topline
The U.S. has conducted aerial strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, President Donald Trump said Saturday, marking the U.S.’s entry into the Israel-Iran conflict.
President Donald Trump speaks as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP … More
Key Facts
Trump said in a Truth Social post: “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” saying a full payload of bombs was dropped on the heavily-fortified Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
Trump said all planes involved in the strike are out of Iranian air space and are “on their way home,” adding, “NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE.”
The president called the strike a “HISTORIC MOMENT” for the U.S., Israel and the world, announcing he will address the nation at 10 p.m.
The strike comes hours after Iran’s foreign minister said U.S. involvement would be “very dangerous for everybody” and about a day after negotiations between Iran and European leaders fell flat.
Iran’s state-run news agency acknowledged the attack on the Fordow facility and said the strike activated air defenses, the Associated Press reported.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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What Do We Know About The U.s. Bunker Buster Bombs?
The “bunker buster” refers to several deep-penetrating ordinances, but in targeting Fordow, the U.S. military likely needed to use the GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s chief, Rafael Grossi, told the BBC on Monday the Fordow site—which is reportedly located between 260-295 feet underground—has seen “very limited if any damage,” even though centrifuges at the key Natanz facility have been “severely damaged if not destroyed.” The 30,000-pound precision-guided weapon is the largest and heaviest piece of conventional air-dropped bomb deployed by the U.S. military. The bomb is also significantly larger than the biggest “bunker buster” in the Israeli military’s arsenal, the 5,000-pound GBU-28. The GBU-57 is believed to be capable of penetrating about 200 feet of mountain rock before it detonates.
Why Was The U.s. Military Needed To Deploy The Bunker Busters?
Due to the GBU-57’s massive size it can only be deployed by the B-2 Spirit stealth strategic bomber. The B-2 is only operated by the U.S. Air Force and the Israeli military lacks any large strategic bombers in its fleet to deliver such a weapon.
Key Background
The Israel-Iran conflict reignited a little more than a week ago when Israeli forces carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, killing several top Iranian generals and nuclear scientists. The two countries have exchanged military strikes since then, with Israel claiming Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon. Israel also said this week it could carry out the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities without help from the U.S. Trump mulled joining the Israeli strikes over the past four days and called for Iran’s unconditional surrender. Iran has insisted it is prepared for a long confrontation with Israel, while Trump has claimed the U.S. is “not looking for a long-term war… I only want one thing: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” Israeli strikes against Iran continued Saturday, when Iran’s health ministry reported some 400 people had been killed and over 3,000 people injured.
