Recent reports indicate that on Saturday, June 21, 2025, the United States, under President Donald Trump’s direction, launched military strikes against three key Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.

By Abdulkareem Haruna

Here’s a breakdown of how the strikes were reportedly carried out and the claims surrounding their impact

Targets:
   * Fordo: This underground enrichment facility, buried deep within a mountain, was a primary target.
   * Natanz: Another significant enrichment facility.
   * Isfahan: A third nuclear site
* Weaponry and Methods:
   * B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers: These aircraft were reportedly used to deliver the most powerful “bunker-buster” bombs.
   * GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs): These 30,000-pound bombs are designed to penetrate deeply underground before exploding, making them suitable for hardened targets like Fordo. Reports suggest a total of 14 MOPs were dropped on Fordo and Natanz.
   * Tomahawk Cruise Missiles: More than two dozen submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles reportedly struck infrastructure targets at the Isfahan site.
  Claimed Impact:
   * President Trump stated that Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities were “completely and totally obliterated” and described the strikes as a “spectacular military success.”
   * U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine reported that initial assessments indicated “extremely severe damage and destruction” to all three sites.
   * Satellite images released after the strikes reportedly show damage to the Fordo and Natanz facilities, including craters from the bunker-busting bombs.
Iranian Response:
   * Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirmed the attacks on its Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz sites but insisted that its nuclear program would not be stopped.
   * Iranian officials stated that personnel at the nuclear sites were evacuated before the attacks, and they reported no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around the sites.
   * Iran has warned of “everlasting consequences” and accused the U.S. of launching a “dangerous war.”
Context:
   * These U.S. strikes mark a direct military involvement in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, which had seen Israel conducting its own strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets since June 13, and Iran retaliating with missile and drone attacks on Israeli cities.
   * The U.S. stated that the objective of the strikes was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and to halt the nuclear threat posed by Iran. Pentagon officials stated the operation was “intentionally limited” to nuclear targets and not aimed at regime change.