US inserts itself into Israel-Iran war, strikes 3 Iranian nuclear sites

Tel Aviv: The US military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, inserting itself into Israel’s effort to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe.
The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities.
But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-pound (13,600-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.
President Donald Trump announced the strikes. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country’s Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate. Iran’s foreign minister said Iran reserves the right to retaliate.
Here is the latest:
Hegseth says US intervention in Israel’s war with Iran is not open-ended In concluding his briefing, the US defence chief attempted to once again reiterate an unwillingness for America’s intervention in Iran to turn into a protracted war and labelled the overnight strikes as “intentionally limited.”
“I would just say, as the president has directed and made clear, this is most certainly not open-ended,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding that it doesn’t limit US ability to respond and it will do so if necessary.
“The most powerful military in the world is postured and prepared to defend our people,” Hegseth said.
A Pentagon-provided map shows the path of B-2 bombers
A Pentagon-provided map of the flight path taken by B-2 stealth bombers indicates that their approach to Iran took them over the Mediterranean and then over Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
It is not immediately clear when those three countries were made aware of the flights. Israel has said the US strikes were carried out in coordination with its military. The US said the strikes did not involve Israeli jets.
The Pentagon released the map to journalists as it gave details of the mission, which it described as causing “extremely severe damage and destruction” to three Iranian nuclear sites.
US and Iranian officials say both countries are exchanging messages
Hours after Iran’s top diplomat disclosed that the line of communication between Washington and Tehran remains open, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed his remarks in a press conference.
“I can only confirm that there are both public and private messages being directly delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the table,” Hegseth said.
US military increases protective measures for US troops in the Middle East As the US and the region await Iran’s response to the overnight strikes, Hegseth said that military generals have elevated force protection measures across the region, especially in Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf.
“Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice,” Hegseth told reporters.
A maritime centre warns of risks to US-linked ships
A Mideast-based maritime centre overseen by the US military warned Sunday that there’s a “high” risk to US-associated ships after the American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
“The threat to US-associated commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is currently assessed as HIGH,” the Joint Maritime Information Centre, which is overseen by the US Navy, wrote in an advisory to shippers.
“This categorisation follows US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and Houthi rhetoric directly targeting the US-associated maritime assets,” it said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saturday said they would attack US-associated ships if America attacked Iran.
Pentagon stresses that ‘regime change’ was not goal of Iranian strike
The Trump administration said that its attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities was not about toppling the country’s government.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Sunday news briefing.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stressed that the goal of “Operation Midnight Hammer” had destroyed the nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said.
Hegseth says US military used decoys and deception in Iran attack
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said Sunday that despite a surprise attack overnight on Iranian nuclear sites, America “does not seek war.”
Hegseth said it was important to note that US strikes did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people, a veiled effort to indicate to Iran that they don’t want retaliation on American targets in the region.
Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians.
He added that the US used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on two of Iran’s most powerful nuclear sites. He said that all of these tactics helped the US drop the bombs without tipping off Iran’s fighter jets or its air missile systems.
Iranian president condemns US strikes
ranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday condemned the US attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites.
“This aggression showed that the United States is the primary instigator of the Zionist regime’s hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pezeshkian said Sunday. “Although they initially tried to deny their role, after our armed forces’ decisive and deterrent response and the Zionist regime’s clear incapacity, they were inevitably forced to enter the field themselves.”
Pezeshkian urged the public to come together in the face of the attacks from Israel and the US
Explosions heard in Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear plant
Explosions boomed Sunday afternoon in the Iranian port city of Bushehr, three semiofficial Iranian media outlets reported. It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts.
Bushehr is home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant, which is run with Russian assistance. Iranian authorities have not reported any problem at the plant.
Meanwhile, explosions also struck the city of Yazd in central Iran, with some suggesting it came from Israeli airstrikes targeting a power plant and a military garrison. AP