Iranians are waking up to news that the U.S. attacked their country. Many are saying in online posts and on family and friends chat groups that they are concerned about what will happen to their country. They say they are also concerned about radioactive leaks from bombing three nuclear sites despite the government saying there is no health risk. Internet connection on Sunday was somewhat restored, allowing people to connect briefly with one another and with the outside world. The government had provided little guidance and reassurance.
After hitting Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear installation, President Trump warned of more strikes “if peace does not come quickly.” Israel’s prime minister called the bombings a “bold decision.”
American warplanes and submarines attacked three key nuclear sites in Iran early Sunday, bringing the U.S. military directly into Israel’s war and prompting fears that the strikes could lead to more dangerous escalations across the Middle East.
President Trump said the objective of the strikes “was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.” He claimed success,
saying in a televised address from the White House that the nuclear facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.”
The strikes hit Iran’s two major uranium enrichment centers: the heavily fortified mountain facility at Fordo and a larger enrichment plant at Natanz, which Israel had struck several days ago with smaller weapons. A third site near the ancient city of Isfahan where Iran is believed to keep near-bomb-grade uranium was also bombed. Iranian officials acknowledged the sites had been attacked but did not immediately describe the damage.
Mr. Trump warned that more strikes were possible. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” he said. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
There was no immediate response from Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who is in Europe for diplomatic talks. António Guterres, the head of the United Nations, called the attacks a “dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge — and a direct threat to international peace and security.”
As people in the Middle East woke up to news of the strikes, Mr. Trump’s decision was reverberating through Congress.
Top Republicans were
rallying behind him, calling the strikes a necessary check on Iran’s ambitions of developing a nuclear weapon. But senior Democrats and some G.O.P. lawmakers condemned the move as an unconstitutional one that could drag the United States into war.
Iran has also warned that America’s entry into war would bring retaliation, including the targeting of U.S. forces in the region or the
acceleration of its nuclear program — assuming the program survives U.S. bombing.
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https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/21/world/iran-israel-trump
