US President Donald Trump says the US military struck three nuclear sites in Iran -- Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan -- and the aircraft that carried out the mission already are on their way back to the United States.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said on June 21 in a post on social media.
"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.”
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN quoted an Israeli official as saying the strikes were carried out in full coordination with Washington.
Iranian authorities did not immediately comment on the announcement.
Trump had been weighing direct US military involvement in the war between Israel and Iran and had been set to meet with his national security team later on June 21. He now says he will address the nation at 10 p.m. local time.
The announcement came just two days after Trump said he would decide "within two weeks" whether to join Israel in attacking Iran in its effort to destroy Iranian nuclear sites.
Reports earlier on June 21 said that US B-2 stealth bombers -- which are capable of carrying so-called bunker-busting bombs -- were headed out of the United States and flying across the Pacific Ocean.
US and Israeli officials had previously said that the United States was the only country that had the capacity to carry out a strike on Iranian nuclear sites buried deep underground.
Trump reposted a social media post on X by Open Source Intel that said: "Fordow is gone."
Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched an aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies its nuclear program is seeking an atomic bomb.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier on June 21 that Iran would not halt its nuclear program "under any circumstances,” and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that US military involvement in it "would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
Araqchi, speaking on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey, said Iran was open to further dialogue but emphasized that Iran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian said Iran was "ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities."
"However, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances," he added, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
Israel said earlier on June 21 that it killed three more Iranian commanders in its offensive, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that a "vast" wave of "suicide drones" had been launched against "strategic targets" across Israel.
