Washington: President Donald Trump has said that the US military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s attempts to decapitate the country’s alleged nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe.
This comes following Iran’s persistent retaliatory attacks against Israel who initiated unprovoked attack over the former’s alleged nuclear program on June 13. Iran has time and again denied the charges and has stated its willingness for talks and inspection of its nuclear sites.
The decision of US to get involved directly comes after more than a week of such strikes by Israel on Iran that aim 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-lb 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.
According to a New York Times report, the US’ B2 bomber aircraft were seen flying off the coast of California alongside aerial refuelling jets.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on social media on Saturday. “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.”
The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.
No radioactive material on sites: Iranian media
Iran’s state media, IRNA, quoting official sources, has said that there was no radio active material on the sites that could cause radiation. This suggests that Iran has moved its enriched uranium stocks to a more secure location in anticipation of these attacks.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Syeda Faiza Kirmani | 
