“War starts right now”, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Tehran’s main army branch, said overnight on Sunday after the US forces struck three nuclear sites in Iran, according to US President Donald Trump.
Trump posted on his Truth Social account that a “full payload of bombs was dropped” on the Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan nuclear sites.
“Congratulations to our great American warriors,” Trump said, adding that it is now “time for peace”.
Addressing the nation at the White House following the attack, Trump said that Iran “must now make peace” and that “if they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,” he said, “Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal.”
“If peace doesn’t come quickly we will go to those other targets with precision, speed and skill.”
In turn, top US Republican lawmaker Lindsey Graham said Trump “made the right call”.
The Tehran regime “deserved it,” the senior US senator from South Carolina added. “Well done, president,” Graham said. “To my fellow citizens: We have the best Air Force in the world. It makes me so proud.”
Top Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, said Trump has “mislead the country,” however.
“Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way,” Jeffrey said in a statement.
The US has between 40,000 and 50,000 troops stationed in the region, who are expected to be put on high alert after the strikes.
The IRGC responded by saying this has further escalated what has been an exchange of missile and drone attacks by Iran and Israel since last Friday, now escalating beyond conflict to a full-blown war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Ministry said it elevated its state of alert even further, cancelling all “educational activities, gatherings and workplaces, except for essential sectors.”
Trump’s decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country’s air defences and offensive military capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities.
On Saturday, multiple US B-2 bombers appeared to be airborne and heading west from the US. B-2 bombers are the only aircraft that carry the larger bunker buster bombs.
Aside from an on-the-ground raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but American bunker-buster bombs.
Both US and Israeli officials said that American stealth bombers and a 15,000-kilogram bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground.
The bunker buster bombs are believed to be able to penetrate some 60 metres below the surface before exploding. They can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.
However, the Fordow nuclear site might be buried deep, with some parts of it reaching hundreds of metres beneath the surface, according to reports.
Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used, but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.
The US has been shifting its military aircraft towards the Middle East for days, as Euronews reported. Although Trump initially said he would decide whether to strike Iran in “two weeks”, the decision came within around two days.
Iran had previously pledged to retaliate if the US joined the Israeli assault. Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the US that strikes targeting his nation would “result in irreversible damage for them.”
