US launches strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump says

KATHMANDU: The United States launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, President Trump announced Saturday evening, calling them a “spectacular military success.”

“The U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear assemblies in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan,” President Trump said in a national address from the White House Saturday night. “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”

Prior to his address, the president wrote on his Truth Social platform that a “full payload of BOMBS” was dropped on the “primary site” Fordo. The president also said all U.S. planes made it safely out of Iranian air space.

And in second post, Mr. Trump wrote: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISTAEL (sic), AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”

Trump warns Iran against retaliating after U.S. strikes

The president addressed the nation regarding the strikes late Saturday night, saying that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated” and issuing a warning to Iran to strive for a peace deal in its war with Israel.

“There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Mr. Trump said while flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “Remember, there are many targets left.”

Mr. Trump added that “if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”

Iran has pledged to retaliate if the U.S. joined the Israeli assault, which began with airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites and military targets on June 13. Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks on Israeli cities.

But in a follow-up social media post following his national address, Mr. Trump said that “ANY RETALIATION BY IRAN AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE MET WITH FORCE FAR GREATER THAN WHAT WAS WITNESSED TONIGHT.”

What Israeli and Iranian officials are saying

The U.S. alerted Israel ahead of the strikes, two White House officials told CBS News. Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke following the strikes, the officials said. And in a video address, Netanyahu praised the president for conducting the strikes.

“President Trump and I often say peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength.”

According to the Iranian state media outlet IRNA, Morteza Heidari, a spokesman for crisis headquarters in Iran’s Qom province, acknowledged there had been attacks on all three nuclear sites. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization also confirmed the attacks in a statement, but claimed the strikes will not stop it from progressing in its nuclear program. It also called on the international community to condemn the attacks.

And in a social media post Sunday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “in accordance with” the United Nations Charter “and its provisions Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”

Araghchi alleged that the U.S. in its attack had “committed a grave violation of the UN Charter.”

Homeland Security officials are monitoring for potential physical and cyber reprisals from the U.S. attack, domestically amid a “very high” threat level and with the “red line” of the Iranian response doctrine now crossed, CBS News has learned.

“We’re in unchartered territory,” one U.S. intelligence official told CBS News, while speaking about potential Iranian threats to the U.S. homeland. “We don’t know how Iran will react to this because this is the highest rate of tension and conflict we’ve had in recent history. We’re just not sure how the Khomeini regime will react.”

The official added that assessments range from little to no action on the part of Iranians to desperate and drastic action. CBSnews