US strikes 3 Iranian sites, joining Israeli air campaign

Tel Aviv | The US military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, directly joining Israel 's war aimed at decapitating the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.

The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US 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 programme 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.

Trump called Netanyahu after strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video that Trump called him after the strikes.

“It was a very warm conversation, very emotional,” Netanyahu said.

Speaking in Hebrew, he called Trump a friend of Israel like no one before him.

“In my name, and on behalf of all citizens of Israel and on behalf of the entire Jewish world, I thank him from the bottom of my heart.”

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

US 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

US 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 Organisation 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 Organisation 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 US “has done what no other country on earth could do.”

Japan evacuates group from Iran

Japan's Foreign Ministry said that 21 Japanese residents of Iran and their family members arrived safely in Baku, the capital of the neighbouring Azerbaijan, after evacuating by bus. It was Japan's second evacuation from Iran.

US used bunker buster' bomb, Trump tells Hannity

The US dropped six “bunker buster” bombs to strike the deeply buried Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Fox News' Sean Hannity says President Donald Trump told him in a phone call.

The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defences and significantly degraded multiple Iranian nuclear sites.

But to destroy the Fordo plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the 30,000-pound bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to penetrate underground and then explode.

The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.

If confirmed, this would be the first combat use of the weapon.

Republican leaders in Congress praise Trump's decision to strike Iran

US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who was briefed by the White House ahead of the strike, said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated ... That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity.”

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iranian regime's “misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped.”

Sen Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk and Republican from South Carolina, wrote online: “This was the right call. The regime deserves it.”

Meanwhile, elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the U.S. Congress.

“Horrible judgment,” said Sen Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.”

Said conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, “While President Trump's decision may prove just, it's hard to conceive a rationale that's Constitutional.”

Nonproliferation group condemns attacks

The Washington-based Arms Control Association, which focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, said the attack was an “irresponsible departure from Trump's pursuit of diplomacy and increases the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.”

“The US military strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, including the deeply fortified, underground Fordo uranium enrichment complex, may temporarily set back Iran's nuclear programme, but in the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy,” it warned.