Portraits of Iranian military generals and nuclear scientists, killed in Israel’s June 13 attack are displayed above a road, as a plume of heavy smoke and fire rise over an oil refinery in southern Tehran, after it was hit in an overnight Israeli strike, on June 15, 2025.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United States attacked Iran, hitting three nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump wrote on social media Saturday.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” wrote Trump.
“All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!” the president wrote.
The action puts the United States in direct armed conflict with Iran, a massive escalation in its involvement with Israel’s effort to cripple Tehran’s nuclear program and topple its regime.
The decision also once again engages the American military in active warfare in the Middle East — something Trump had vowed to avoid during his second term in office.
It also marks a major shift from less than a week earlier, when the U.S. was quick to state that it was not involved with Israel’s decision to launch what it called a preemptive strike on a slew of Iranian targets.
That opening salvo set off a furious exchange of rocket fire between Israel and Iran, which has continued for six straight days and counting.
The Trump administration had been trying to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, and Trump in recent months had reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on a strike.
That diplomatic path may now be closed. Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that “any American military entry will undoubtedly be met with irreparable damage.”
“If they enter militarily, they will face harm that they cannot recover from,” he added in a statement read on Iranian state television, NBC News reported.
People stand on a rooftop amidst billowing smoke following an overnight Israeli strike in Tehran on June 17, 2025.
Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images
Trump had insisted that the U.S. had “nothing to do with the attack on Iran,” writing on social media that, “we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!”
But as Israel’s strikes appeared to deal serious blows to numerous key Iranian military and nuclear targets, Trump tone appeared to shift to a more aggressive posture.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him an “easy target” and writing that America’s “patience is wearing thin.”
Trump and previous American presidents have long insisted that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.
Trump in his first term pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear agreement that the Obama administration and other nations had brokered with Iran in 2015, arguing it failed to protect America or deter Tehran’s enrichment aims.
Israel has long claimed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and has threatened to strike its nuclear program before. But until now, Tel Aviv has limited its military engagement to targeted assassinations and cyber attacks.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, testified before Congress in March that the U.S. intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
Trump on Tuesday bluntly dismissed his own Cabinet official’s assessment. “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump said on Air Force One.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
