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The US claimed to have inflicted “extraordinarily extreme harm and destruction” on Iran’s nuclear services as Donald Trump gambled that the operation might harm the Islamic republic with out upsetting a army or political backlash.
Basic Dan Caine, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of employees, mentioned on Sunday that seven B-2 bombers had flown for 18 hours from Missouri, dropping 14 “bunker buster” bombs on targets in Iran earlier than returning to the US.
The strikes on Sunday morning in Iran deepen the battle within the Center East, which has been in turmoil since Hamas’s assault on Israel in 2023. They arrive simply over per week after Israel launched missiles at Iran and Tehran hit again by putting targets in Israel.
The bombing raid was additionally the primary use in battle of the 30,000lb GBU-57 Huge Ordnance Penetrator, broadly believed to be the one bomb capable of penetrate Iran’s subterranean Fordow nuclear web site, which defence secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned was the “main goal”.
The US bombers, which needed to be refuelled in air a number of occasions, additionally focused a separate web site at Natanz, whereas an Ohio-class guided-missile nuclear submarine was used to fireside Tomahawk missiles at a 3rd web site in Isfahan.
Whilst US officers boasted of the army achievement and the “deception ways” that concerned sending different B-2 bombers in a decoy mission throughout the Pacific Ocean, additionally they sought to attract a line beneath the intervention.
Vice-president JD Vance informed NBC: “We’re not at conflict with Iran. We’re at conflict with Iran’s nuclear programme . . . Now we have no real interest in a protracted battle.”
Whereas Vance claimed the US had “destroyed the Iranian nuclear programme” and President Trump earlier mentioned it was “obliterated”, Pentagon officers had been extra cautious pending a full evaluation.
“Last battle harm will take a while, however preliminary battle harm assessments point out that each one three websites sustained extraordinarily extreme harm and destruction,” mentioned Caine.
One individual conversant in the assault mentioned the preliminary outcomes recommended that the strikes had been very “spectacular”.
However Iran warned the US of retaliation, with overseas minister Abbas Araghchi saying the US had “crossed a really large pink line” with its bombing raid.
“The door for diplomacy must be all the time stored open,” Araghchi informed reporters in Istanbul. “However this isn’t the case proper now.”
Whereas Tehran’s speedy retaliation was extra strikes in opposition to Israel, injuring 16 individuals, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US of a “regret-inducing response” that might goal American army bases within the Center East.
Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen additionally mentioned they might resume concentrating on US vessels within the Pink Sea. Some politicians in Tehran referred to as for Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, to disrupt oil provides from the Gulf.
US officers mentioned that they had no plans for additional assaults until Iran hit again.
“There are not any deliberate army operations proper now in opposition to Iran until they fiddle and so they assault [America] or American pursuits, then they’re going to have an issue,” mentioned US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
China and Russia condemned the US assault whereas European nations referred to as for de-escalation. UN secretary-general António Guterres referred to as it a “direct menace to worldwide peace and safety”.
Trump’s resolution to affix Israel’s conflict on Iran raises the chance of a backlash from his personal supporters, lots of whom need the US to remain out of world conflicts.
Whereas most Republican lawmakers backed Trump’s resolution, Consultant Thomas Massie informed CBS there was “no imminent menace to america” and Republicans had been “bored with infinite wars within the Center East”.
Some Democrats additionally condemned the strikes, saying they risked drawing the US into one other protracted conflict.