Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists, killed in Israel’s June 13 attack are displayed above a road, as a plume of heavy smoke and fire rise over an oil refinery in southern Tehran, after it was hit in an overnight Israeli strike, on June 15, 2025.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United States attacked Iran, hitting three nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump wrote on social media Saturday.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” wrote Trump.
“All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” the president wrote.
Trump said he will address the nation at 10 p.m. ET Saturday.
Earlier in the day Saturday, several U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bombers left Missouri, heading west over the Pacific Ocean. The massive planes are some of the only U.S. aircraft capable of carrying the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 30,000-pound bomb known as the “bunker buster.”
Saturday’s action puts the United States in direct armed conflict with Iran, a massive escalation in its involvement with Israel’s effort to cripple Tehran’s nuclear program and topple its regime.
The decision also once again engages the American military in active warfare in the Middle East — something Trump had vowed to avoid during his second term in office.
It also marks a major shift from less than 48 hours ago, when Trump said the United States would take “two weeks” to see if the conflict between Israel and Iran could be resolved diplomatically.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said Thursday in a statement issued by the White House.
Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been trying to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, and Trump in recent months had reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on a strike.
Infographic with a map of Iran showing nuclear sites, reactors and uranium mines.
Graphic by SYLVIE HUSSON, NALINI LEPETIT-CHELLA, SABRINA BLANCHARD| AFP | via Getty Images
That diplomatic path may now be closed. Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said recently that “any American military entry will undoubtedly be met with irreparable damage.”
“If they enter militarily, they will face harm that they cannot recover from,” he added in a statement read on Iranian state television.
After the U.S. strikes, it was unclear what options remained for an Iranian retaliation against the United States.
One possibility with direct impacts on the global economy and supply chain would be if Tehran were to set landmines down in the Strait of Hormuz, said Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
The narrow body of water between Iran and Oman is the transit point for about 20% of the world’s oil, via tanker ships.
Landmines would effectively close the strait, because ships would not know where the mines were placed.
“We’re already getting reports that Iran is jamming ship transponders very, very aggressively,” Croft told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Wednesday.
QatarEnergy and the Greek Shipping Ministry have already warned their vessels to avoid the strait as much as possible, Croft said.
More such alerts were expected following Saturday’s U.S. attack on Iranian sites.
Infographic with map of the Gulf showing maritime tanker traffic in September 2024 through the Strait of Hormuz
Getty Images
Trump and previous American presidents have long insisted that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
Trump in his first term pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear agreement that the Obama administration and other nations had brokered with Iran in 2015, arguing it failed to protect America or deter Tehran’s enrichment aims.
Israel has long claimed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and has threatened to strike its nuclear program before. But until now, Tel Aviv has limited its military engagement to targeted assassinations and cyber attacks.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, testified before Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
But Trump has repeatedly dismissed his own Cabinet official’s assessment.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump said on Air Force One last week.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
