Iran attack: Pentagon says US used ‘bunker buster’ bombs; Iran defiant after Trump calls attacks ‘success’; FM says attacks on nuclear sites ‘outrageous’

Pentagon officials have said the United States used bunker buster bombs to attack Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility on Sunday.

At a news conference in Washington, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “It was an incredible and overwhelming success. The order we received from our commander in chief was focused, it was powerful and it was clear. We devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”

They used the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

It is designed to attack deeply-buried sites and hardened bunkers and tunnels.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said that the lead B2 aircraft dropped two of the weapons on the first of several points at Fordow at approximately 6:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, or 2:10 a.m. on Sunday local Iran time.

He said the remaining bombers then hit their targets as well, with a total of 14 of the bunker buster weapons used. Caine said that Tomahawk missiles were the last to strike at the Isfahan facility.

Hegseth said the operation did not target Iranian troops or civilians. He added the mission “has not been about regime change” in Iran.

Israeli military officials say Iran has fired multiple missiles toward their country. This is believed to be Tehran’s first military response since the United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday local time.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency linked to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reports Iran has launched 40 missiles toward Israel. The agency says targets included an airport near Tel Aviv.

Israel’s local media say at least 86 people have been injured.

CNN says the strikes damaged a building in Tel Aviv.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced the strikes on nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan, and called them successful. The attacks were the first ever carried out by the United States on Iranian soil.

Trump said “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, which he said were carried out in full coordination between the US and Israel.

In a video message to the Israeli people, Netanyahu said Iran’s nuclear program “threatened our very existence and also endangered the peace of the entire world.”

The prime minister thanked US President Donald Trump and praised him.

Netanyahu said: “President Trump is leading the free world with strength. He is a great friend of Israel.”

On the strikes targeting Iranian sites, he said that “from the beginning of the operation, I promised you that Iran’s nuclear facilities would be destroyed, one way or another.” He added, “That promise was kept.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned the US attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, saying the strikes “are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences.”

He took to social media on Sunday after US President Donald Trump had announced the attacks.

Araghchi said, “The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT by attacking Iran’s peaceful nuclear installations.”

The NPT is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Araghchi said, “Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior.”

He also said, “In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”