The United States reached three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday, sinking the United States into a battle launched in recent days between Israel and Iran.
The complete ramifications of American action, announced by President Donald Trump as “very successful” were not clear. Trump and his closest advisors had been weighing for days how to proceed, discussing the costs of participation and inaction. The Democrats and some Republicans had already criticized the strike a few minutes after their announcement.
According to an American official, the B-2 stealth bombers were used in the strikes, but it was not clear which of the places, Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, were beaten by them. Dozens of other US planes were involved in the attacks, said the official.
President Donald Trump in the situation room, at the White House in Washington, on June 21, 2025.
@Whitehouse/x
Hours before, the sources told ABC News that the B-2 stealthy bombers, the only airplanes capable of wearing “bunker-buster” bombs necessary to penetrate the site in Fordo, were heading to Guam. It was not clear if any of those planes was involved in the strikes.
The United States also used Crucero Tomahawk missiles launched from submarines in the region and directed more than just nuclear sites, a source told ABC News Washington Jonathan Karl correspondent.
According to an Israeli official, the United States notified Israel before the strike. The sources said the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, was also informed in advance. But other sources said the full gang of 8, including key democrats, was not informed until after strikes. Some Democrats reacted hard to the precarious military action in the volatile region, with the representative of New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling it “foundations for the political trial” and that Trump was in “serious violation of the Constitution” by not seeking the authorization of Congress.
“Tremendous success,” says Trump
Trump announced for the first time the Strikes On Truth Social, a measure that surprised many, given his statement on Friday that there was a “substantial probability” of negotiations.
“A complete payload of bombs was removed on the main site, Fordow,” Trump published in Truth Social. “All airplanes are sure on the way home.”
“There is no other army in the world that may have done this,” he added. “Now is the moment of peace! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Trump, who spoke with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a senior administration official, briefly addressed the nation, who told the correspondent of the Washington Chief of ABC News, was a “tremendous success tonight.”
“Our goal was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat that represents the number one sponsor in the world. Tonight, I can inform the world that strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump said in his direction.
The president said that the key enrichment sites of Uranium of Iran were “completely and totally erased.”
And he warned Iran that he must now “make peace.”
“If they don’t, future attacks will be much older and much easier,” Trump said. Many goals within Iran remain, Trump said. “But if peace does not come quickly, we will pursue those other objectives with precision, speed and ability.”
The organization of atomic energy will condemn the strikes as “an atrocious act in contradiction with international law, especially the NPT.”
“This invasion occurred in violation of international law, unfortunately in the midst of indifference and even the OIEA company,” the organization added.
Days of missile barriers
Israel and Iran have been exchanging missile wings since Israel launched a preventive strike against Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli officials said they felt that Iran was approaching too much to produce a nuclear weapon.
Israel’s operation, “Rising Lion”, occurred after Israeli officials felt that Iran had enough nuclear material for several bombs, according to Israel’s defense forces and an Israeli official familiar with the operation. In the initial preventive attack, Israel hit the same three sites attacked by the United States
According to Iran, several main Iranian nuclear scientists and the main generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the operation, according to Iran.
Following the Israeli strike on June 13, the two countries exchanged strikes daily, and Trump weighed whether to participate or not. The United States was the only country with the plane, the B-2, capable of transporting the massive artillery penetrator, which could penetrate the mountain under which the operation of Centrifuge de Fordo was hidden.
President Donald Trump speaks when he reaches the joint base Andrews, Maryland, on June 21, 2025.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
On Friday, Trump, who for a long time criticized the participation of the United States in the wars abroad, said in a statement read by press secretary Karoline Leavitt that there was a “substantial probability” of negotiations. Trump gave the period of two weeks with the hope that I will go “to return to his senses.”
The White House said last week that they felt that Iran had all the materials he needed for a nuclear weapon and that he could produce one in a “pair of weeks.”
In March, the director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declared before the Congress that Iran was not “building” a nuclear bomb.
The measure, which many feared attracted the US. In a broad conflict, there was a few days after Trump said he would make a decision about hitting Iran in two weeks.
The reactions are poured
The attacks caused a variety of reaction from US leaders.
The president of the house, Mike Johnson, praised the move.
“Military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder for our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says,” Johnson wrote in X.
“The president gave the leader of Iran all the opportunities to reach an agreement, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement,” he continued.
Similarly, the leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, said in a statement that Iran “has rejected all diplomatic paths towards peace.”
“The wrong search for nuclear weapons of the Mullahs must stop,” said Thune. “As we take measures tonight to ensure that a nuclear weapon remains out of the reach of Iran, I am with President Trump and prayed by American troops and staff in the manner.”
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said: “Trump made the brave and correct decision to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat.”
But Republican Thomas Massie wrote in X: “This is not constitutional.” The Democrats, including Senator Bernie Sanders, joined the choir.
“It is not only this news that I have heard this second alarming, all of you just heard, but it is very inniting,” Sanders said in an event in Oklahoma. “You all know that the only entity that can lead to this country to war is the United States Congress. The President does not have the right,” Sanders told the crowd in an event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Many within Trump’s game opposed Iran and feared the consequences, including the prominent Maga Podcaster and former Trump Advisor Steve Bannon.
The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, said Trump “cheated” the country.
“President Trump cheated the country about his intentions, failed to seek the authorization of Congress for the use of military force and risks in the American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Fears at home and abroad
Following the action, the New York Police deployed officers in sensitive places and Israel hardened the rules for public meetings.
The Internet Security Center, a group of non -partisan experts, in an evaluation of the application of the law on Friday, said: “It is likely that Tehran will take advantage of a combination of direct, power and irregular forces to perform physical, cybernetic or terrorist attacks against the interests of the United States both at home and abroad.”
The evaluation said that following the Israeli attacks, they would trust “raw or stairs” tactics and that probability would increase with the participation of the United States.
Josh Margolin of ABC News contributed to this report.
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
