U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States carried out attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran, namely Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
"All planes are now outside of Iran airspace. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," he said on the social platform Truth Social.
Air defense systems in Qom Province in the south of Tehran had detected hostile targets and were activated several hours before some sections of the Fordow nuclear facility were hit in an air strike, a spokesperson for the crisis management headquarters of Qom said early Sunday local time, according to China Media Group.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. A CNN report cited an Iranian state television commentator as saying, "You started it, and we will end it."
According to CNN, Trump isn't planning additional U.S. strikes on Iran and wants to "propel Tehran back to negotiations."
A senior Iranian state TV official said during a live event that Iran had relocated materials from the three nuclear sites some time ago and suggested that the attacks likely caused no significant damage, Iran's Nour News reported early Sunday morning.
U.S. B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Three senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said they believe American forces had bombed Fordow and Natanz at around 2:30 a.m. in Iran, according to the New York Times.
CBS News said that the United States reached out to Iran diplomatically Saturday to say the strikes are all the U.S. plans and that regime change efforts are not planned.
Trump's decision to intervene directly in support of Israel's attempt to dismantle Iran's nuclear program marks a historic escalation in the Middle East, local media said.
The intervention may provoke retaliation from Tehran against U.S. troops and military installations across the region, local media reported.
The U.S. air raids on Iran came on the ninth day after Israel launched attacks on Iran on June 13.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he was "gravely alarmed" by the use of force by the United States against Iran.
"This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security," Guterres said.
He warned that there is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control, with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.
A Houthi official, Mohamed al-Farah, said the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities were the "beginning" of war, according to Al Jazeera.
U.S. Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, a Democratic representative of California, said on social media platform X that Trump's strikes against Iran are "not only unconstitutional but an escalation that risks bringing the U.S. into another endless and deadly war."
