By Eric Nagourney and Maggie Haberman
The United States has entered Israel’s war against Iran.
American warplanes dropped bombs on three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday, President Trump announced on Saturday night, bringing the U.S. military directly into the war after days of uncertainty about whether he would intervene.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space,” he said in a post on social media, adding that a “full payload” of bombs had been dropped on Fordo, the heavily fortified underground facility in Iran that is critical to its nuclear program. “All planes are safely on their way home.”
The three sites that Mr. Trump said were hit on Saturday night included Iran’s two major uranium enrichment centers: the mountain facility at Fordo and a larger enrichment plant at Natanz, which Israel struck several days ago with smaller weapons. The third site, near the ancient city of Isfahan, is where Iran is believed to keep its near-bomb-grade enriched uranium, which inspectors saw just two weeks ago.
After a week of mixed signals, President Trump, who has long vowed to steer America clear of overseas “forever wars,” on authorized U.S. forces to strike Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear installation, deep underground. The goal, American and Israeli officials have said, is to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
For days, Mr. Trump had been weighing whether to provide Israel the powerful munitions needed to destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear enrichment facilities, at an installation known as Fordo. Only American bombs known as bunker busters are believed up to the job, and only American aircraft can deliver them.
Israel and Iran, sworn enemies for decades, have been exchanging attacks since Friday, when the Israelis launched a surprise assault that targeted Iranian infrastructure, including nuclear installations, and military leaders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation had no choice but to act if it wanted to stave off a nuclear “holocaust.”
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