{"id":54596,"date":"2025-06-22T08:52:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T08:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/us-strikes-three-iranian-nuclear-sites-in-major-escalation-of-middle-east\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T14:12:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T14:12:49","slug":"us-strikes-three-iranian-nuclear-sites-in-major-escalation-of-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/us-strikes-three-iranian-nuclear-sites-in-major-escalation-of-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"US strikes three Iranian nuclear sites in major escalation of Middle East conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump, addressing the nation from the White House, confirmed the precision strikes on Iran\u2019s key nuclear facilities\u2014Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan\u2014describing the operation as a \u201cspectacular military success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,\u201d Trump declared. \u201cOur objective was the destruction of Iran\u2019s nuclear capacity and to eliminate the threat posed by the world\u2019s number one state sponsor of terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strikes were carried out without congressional authorisation.<\/p>\n

According to senior Pentagon officials, three B-2 bombers dropped GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on the underground Fordo enrichment site, buried nearly 300 feet beneath a mountain. Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. Navy submarines struck the Natanz and Esfahan sites.<\/p>\n

All aircraft reportedly exited Iranian airspace without incident. The United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, said it had not detected elevated radiation levels following the strikes.<\/p>\n

{{Iran vows retaliation
\n}}<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the attack as a \u201cheinous and illegal use of force\u201d and warned on social media that the strikes \u201cwill have everlasting consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people,\u201d Araghchi said. Iran\u2019s ambassador to the UN has requested an emergency Security Council meeting.<\/p>\n

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation confirmed damage to the nuclear facilities but said the attacks would not deter the country\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will only strengthen our resolve,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

Flanked by Vice President JD Vance and senior officials in the White House Situation Room, Trump warned that \u201cthere will either be peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a follow-up post on Truth Social, Trump warned: \u201cAny retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos released by the White House showed top administration figures, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, monitoring the operation.<\/p>\n

{{Mixed reactions at home
\n}}<\/p>\n

While some Republicans praised the strikes, others expressed concern. House Speaker Mike Johnson supported the action, but Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted: \u201cThis is not our fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats were more critical. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned the president for acting unilaterally and bypassing Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump misled the country and took action that risks entangling the United States in another endless war,\u201d Jeffries said.<\/p>\n

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia added: \u201cHe campaigned on ending foreign wars. Tonight, he may have started a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States launched a surprise military assault on three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday morning, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and marking the first direct American strike on Iran since the Israel-Iran conflict began nine days ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000089507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000089507,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/trumpsr.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000089507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54596"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54596"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}