Source :Reuters
WASHINGTON, June 21 – U.S. forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites, President Donald Trump said late on Saturday, and he warned Tehran it would face more attacks if it did not agree to peace.
After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump’s decision to join Israel’s military campaign against its major rival Iran represents a major escalation of the conflict.
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“The strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump said in a televised Oval Office address. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely obliterated.”
In a speech that lasted just over three minutes, Trump said Iran’s future held “either peace or tragedy,” and that there were many other targets that the U.S. military could hit.
“If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.”
The U.S. reached out to Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the U.S. plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported.
Trump said U.S. forces struck Iran’s three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. He told Fox News six bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites.
U.S. B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” Trump posted. “Fordow is gone.”
“IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR,” he added.
Reuters had reported earlier on Saturday the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried under a mountain south of Tehran. Given its fortification, it will likely be days, if not longer, before the impact of the strikes is known.
An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed that part of the Fordow site was attacked by “enemy airstrikes.”
Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran’s state broadcaster, said Iran had evacuated the three sites some time ago.