The United States has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, President Donald Trump announced just before 8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday in a social media post. The announcement came after U.S. airplanes completed the mission and were outside Iranian airspace.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home,” Trump said in the post. Sites at Natanz and Esfahan were also bombed.
“NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” the president posted in all capital letters.
Trump has long said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has favored negotiation and peace talks between Iran and Israel. But Iran has been unwilling to engage in a discussion that would lead to dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
The United States is reportedly the only country with so-called bunker-buster bombs large enough to potentially penetrate Iran’s deeply buried nuclear sites and the aircraft capable of delivering those bombs. Bunker-busters were needed to destroy the Fordow nuclear site, which was tunneled deep under a mountain in Iran.
On Thursday Trump said he would make his “decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” Some may have interpreted that to mean Iran had a two-week reprieve, but Trump did not specify a date for his decision.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
