ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump on Sunday labeled Washington’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a “spectacular military success,” warning of a “tragedy” for Tehran if it does not agree to peace.
“There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than what we have witnessed in the past eight days,” Trump said in a televised address, stressing that the strikes were aimed at “the destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities."
He called Iran “the number one state sponsor of terror.”
Trump early Sunday announced that the US had carried out strikes targeting Iran’s three primary nuclear sites – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. He later told Fox News that six “bunker-buster” bombs were used against the Fordow plant, which houses Iran’s most advanced centrifuges, while the other two sites were hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles from submarines.
“Iran’s nuclear facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he said, vowing to go after further targets and saying “most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.”
The strikes came days after Trump said he was giving Tehran two weeks before he would make a decision about getting directly involved in the conflict.
They were also a culmination of days of speculation on whether Washington would join Israel’s attacks against Iran, particularly after Trump cut his trip to Canada for a G7 meeting short and returned to the US to convene a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday.
Israel on June 13 launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and assassinated several senior military commanders, triggering counterstrikes from Tehran. The conflict is now in its second week. The escalation abruptly ended indirect nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington.