WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that America “does not seek war” with Iran in the aftermath of a surprise attack overnight on three of that country’s nuclear sites.
The mission, called “Operation Midnight Hammer,” involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Hegseth added.
Caine said the goal of the operation — destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — had been achieved.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said.
President Donald Trump announced the overnight “massive precision strikes” on Iran’s Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites in a televised address to the nation from the White House on Saturday. Describing them as “a spectacular military success,” he said they had “completely and fully obliterated” the nuclear sites. Iran, he said, would now have to make peace.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirmed the attacks, but insisted its nuclear program will not be stopped. Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination at the three locations following the strikes.
The nuclear fuel enrichment site at Fordo is buried deep beneath a mountain, and the attack against it used bunker-buster bombs designed to penetrate the ground before exploding, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. Only the United States has the 30,000-pound munition and the stealth bombers used to deliver them.
Trump warned there would be additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against U.S. forces, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack.
Iran’s response
Iran launched a barrage of missiles against Israel overnight and into Sunday, with Israeli authorities reporting that more than 80 people were wounded, the vast majority of them lightly.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the time for diplomacy had passed and his country had the right to defend itself.
“The warmongering, a lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,” he said in a news conference in Istanbul. “They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities.”
How Tehran might retaliate remains unclear, but an Iranian response could mean a wave of attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, an attempt to close a key bottleneck for global oil supplies or a dash to develop a nuclear weapon.
‘A dangerous escalation’
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the United States’ use of force, and called the strikes a “dangerous escalation.” World leaders issued calls for diplomacy.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region and the world,” Guterres said in a statement on X. “I call on Member States to de-escalate.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but urged restraint.
“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she said in a social media post. Kallas will chair a meeting of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, with the Israel-Iran war high on the agenda.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who had threatened to resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel’s military campaign, called on other Muslim nations to form “one front against the Zionist-American arrogance.”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned the U.S. on Wednesday that strikes against Iran would “result in irreparable damage for them.”
The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”
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