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The United States said they had inflicted “extremely serious damage and destruction” on Iranian nuclear installations while Donald Trump played that the operation could harm the Islamic Republic without provoking a military or political reaction.
General Dan Caine, president of American joint chiefs, said on Sunday that seven B-2 bombers had stolen from Missouri at 6 p.m., dropping 14 bunker bustter bombs on targets in Iran before returning to the United States.
Sunday morning, Iran strikes deepen the conflict in the Middle East, which has been swirled since the attack on Hamas against Israel in 2023. They come a little more than a week after the launch of Israel of the missiles in Iran and Tehran, struck by hitting targets in Israel.
The bombing raid nicknamed the Midnight Hammer operation was also the first use in conflict of the massive penetrator of 30,000 LB GBU-57, largely considered to be the only bomb to penetrate Iran’s underground Ford-Fordow nuclear siteWhat the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said was the “main target”.
The American bombers, who were to be supplied in the air several times, also targeted a separate site in Natanz, while a nuclear submarine of the guided class of Ohio was used to dismiss Tomahawk missiles on a third site in Isfahan.
Even if American officials boasted of military success and “deception tactics” which involved sending other B-2 bombers in a lure mission through the Pacific Ocean, they also sought to draw a line under the intervention.
Vice-president JD Vance told NBC: “We are not at war with Iran. We are at war with the Iranian nuclear program … We have no interest in prolonged conflict. ”
While Vance said that the United States had “destroyed the Iranian nuclear program” and President Trump said earlier that it was “erased”, Pentagon officials were more cautious while waiting for a full assessment.
“The final battle damage will take some time, but the initial battle damage assessments indicate that the three sites have suffered extremely serious damage and destruction,” said Caine.
A person familiar with the attack said the first results suggested that strikes had been very “impressive”.
But Iran has warned the United States of reprisals, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Saying that the United States had “crossed a very large red line” with its bombing raid.
“The door of diplomacy should still be maintained open,” Araghchi told journalists in Istanbul. “But this is not the case for the moment.”
While Tehran’s immediate reprisals were more strikes against Israel, injuring 16 people, the Iranian revolutionary guards warned the United States of a “answer inducing regret” which could target the American military bases in the Middle East.
Houthi activists supported by Iran in Yemen have also said that they would resume American ships in the Red Sea. Some teheran politicians called on Iran to close the Hormuz StraitTo disrupt the oil supply of the Gulf.
US officials said they did not intend additional attacks unless Iran returns.
“There are no military operations planned at the moment against Iran unless they do not spoil and attack [America] Or American interests, so they will have a problem, “said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was about to achieve the objectives of his military campaign in Iran.
“We have embarked on this mission to withdraw these two concrete threats from our existence: the nuclear threat and the threat of ballistic missile,” Netanyahu said at a press conference. “We are very, very close to accomplishing them.”
He added that Israel would not continue his military operation “beyond what is necessary … but we will not finish it earlier”.
The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany have jointly led Iran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with the West.
China and Russia condemned the American attack on Iranian nuclear installations while European countries have called for de -escalation. UN Secretary General António Guterres called him “direct threat to international peace and security”.
Trump’s decision to join The War of Israel against Iran Increases the risk of reaction of its own supporters, many of whom the United States wants to stay outside the world conflicts.
While most of the Republican legislators supported Trump’s decision, representative Thomas Massie told CBS that there was “no imminent threat to the United States” and that the Republicans were “tired of the endless wars in the Middle East”.
Some Democrats also condemned strikes, saying they were likely to shoot the United States in another prolonged war.
