U.S. President Donald Trump, in an address early on Sunday, called the recent military operation in Iran a “spectacular military success.” In a national address from the White House on Saturday night, he said, “The U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on three key nuclear assemblies of Iran: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.”
Fordow, a highly fortified underground uranium enrichment facility. It is reportedly buried hundreds of meters deep in the mountains near Qom in northwestern Iran. Natanz is Iran’s largest enrichment complex, containing vast halls of centrifuges, some of which are underground. Isfahan is an important nuclear research and production center that includes a uranium conversion facility and fuel fabrication plants.
Donald Trump also stated, “Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a halt to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror.” For years, the United States and Israel have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons. However, Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also rejected the claim, stating that Iran has enriched uranium up to 83.7 percent purity at the Fordow facility. A total of 90 percent purity is required to make nuclear bombs.
All of this occurred just one day after Donald Trump criticized the Nobel authorities for not acknowledging his anti-war efforts.
The only weapon capable of destroying Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities is America’s bunker-busting bomb. The GBU-57 is a 30,000-pound (13,607 kg) warhead capable of penetrating 200 feet (61 meters) underground before detonating. The design for the bomb began in the early 2000s, and it can penetrate through rock or concrete. Trump also told Fox News that six bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were launched at other nuclear sites.
The Iran-Israel conflict began in April 2024, when Israel airstruck an Iranian embassy building in Damascus, killing three top Iranian commanders and four officers. Iran retaliated weeks later by launching more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel. This led to a series of confrontations between the two countries. The escalating conflict has now amplified with the intervention of the US in the war. What began as a local struggle has now crossed the middle east and become an international crisis. While Israel gained the backing of the US, Iran finds itself increasingly isolated. As tensions reach a critical point, the world waits to see whether the next move will lead toward de-escalation—or ignite an even wider and more dangerous conflict.
