Washington — The United States launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, President Trump said Saturday evening.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”
The president plans to address the nation at 10 p.m. ET, and CBS News will have live coverage.
The decision to directly involve the U.S. comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker-buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program, including the Fordo enrichment site buried deep underground.
Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault. Mr. Trump won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts.
Because of its location experts have believed the best chance at destroying the facility lies with the U.S.-produced “bunker-buster” bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP — a bomb is so heavy that it could only be dropped by an American B-2 bomber.
Earlier Saturday, multiple U.S. officials had confirmed to CBS News that B-2 bombers had departed Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri en route to Guam.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
