US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the US military has carried out a “very successful attack” on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” he said, adding that the planes were safely out of Iranian airspace and on the way home.
Trump’s announcement came just two days after he said he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join key ally Israel in attacking Iran.
Earlier on Saturday, there were reports that US B-2 bombers — which are armed with GBU-57 “bunker buster” bombs — were headed out of the United States. Trump did not say what kind of US planes or munitions were involved.
Tehran had threatened reprisals on US forces in the Middle East if Trump attacked, but the US president called for “peace.”
“There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” he said.
Earlier, the United States began evacuation flights from Israel, the US ambassador said Saturday, as Israel trades deadly strikes with archenemy Iran.
Mike Huckabee wrote on X that the US government was offering assistance to American citizens and permanent residents of the US living in Israel or the West Bank.
A State Department official said around 70 people were flown from Tel Aviv to Athens, Greece, on Saturday on two government-organized flights. The official urged US citizens to depart on their own if possible, without waiting for government assistance.
Several other countries, including China, India, and several European nations, have also arranged evacuations for their nationals.
Israel and Iran have exchanged wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s health ministry on Saturday gave a toll of more than 400 people killed in Israeli attacks. Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was “ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities”.
“However, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” he added, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
Referring to the Israeli attacks, he said: “Our response to the continued aggression of the Zionist regime will be more devastating.”
Via: Agence France-Presse
