DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) 鈥 The United States inserted itself into Israel鈥檚 war against Iran by dropping 30,000-pound bombs on a uranium enrichment site early Sunday, raising urgent questions about what remains of Tehran鈥檚 nuclear program and how its weakened military might respond.
Iran lashed out at the U.S. for crossing 鈥渁 very big red line鈥 with its to launch strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites with missiles and .
鈥淭he warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,鈥 Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, adding that he would immediately fly to Moscow to coordinate with close ally Russia.
Amid fears of a wider regional conflict, the Trump administration sent that it wanted to restart diplomatic talks with Iran. 鈥淟et's meet directly,鈥 Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. 鈥渄oes not seek war.鈥
But Tehran said the time for diplomacy had passed and that it has the right to defend itself.
President Donald Trump earlier warned there would be additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against U.S. forces. Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East. 鈥淭here will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,鈥 said Trump, who .
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed that attacks took place on the . Both Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around the sites.
Trump claimed the U.S. 鈥渃ompletely and fully obliterated鈥 the sites, but the Pentagon reported 鈥渟ustained, extremely severe damage and destruction.鈥 Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin said 鈥渢he damage is deep,鈥 but an assessment with the U.S. continued.
With the attack, the United States has inserted itself into a war it spent decades trying to avoid. Success could mean ending Iran鈥檚 nuclear ambitions and eliminating the last significant state threat to the security of Israel, its close ally. Failure 鈥 or overreach 鈥 could plunge the U.S. into another .
For Iran鈥檚 supreme leader, it could mark the end of a campaign to transform the Islamic Republic into a greater regional power that holds enriched nuclear material a step away from weapons-grade. last spoke publicly on Wednesday, warning the U.S. that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 鈥渞esult in irreparable damage for them.鈥
Iran, battered by Israel鈥檚 largest-ever assault on it that , has limited ways , as of the conflict. It could launch a wave of attacks on U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East with the missiles and rockets that Israel hasn鈥檛 destroyed. It could attempt to close a key bottleneck for global oil supplies, the Strait of Hormuz, between it and the United Arab Emirates.
Or it could hurry to develop a nuclear weapon with what remains of its program. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran insisted that its nuclear program will not be stopped.
New questions about Iran鈥檚 nuclear stockpile
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Trump and Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon.
Israel has significantly degraded Iran鈥檚 air defenses and offensive missile capabilities and damaged its nuclear enrichment facilities. But only the U.S. military has the bunker-buster bombs that officials believe offered the best chance of destroying sites deep underground.
A total of 14 were used on Natanz and Fordo, according to the Pentagon. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 75 precision-guided weapons were used, including missiles fired from a submarine.
The strike on Fordo, which is dug deep into a mountain, raised an urgent question: What has happened to Iran鈥檚 stockpile of uranium and centrifuges?
Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC after the U.S. strikes, analyzed by The Associated Press, show damage to the facility.
The images suggest Iran packed the entrance tunnels to Fordo with dirt and had trucks at the facility ahead of the strikes. Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, have claimed Iran removed nuclear material from targeted sites.
Before the Israeli military campaign began, Iran said it had declared a third, unknown site as a new enrichment facility.
鈥淨uestions remain as to where Iran may be storing its already enriched stocks 鈥 as these will have almost certainly been moved to hardened and undisclosed locations, out of the way of potential Israeli or U.S. strikes,鈥 said Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute focused on nonproliferation issues.
鈥淚t is also unclear what secret facilities may exist inside Iran that Tehran could use" for weapons-related activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency did not respond to a request for comment about Iran possibly moving nuclear material. The head of U.N.鈥檚 nuclear watchdog said he will convene an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors on Monday.
and calls for restraint. The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Sunday. Egypt warned of 鈥済rave repercussions鈥 for the region. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy鈥檚 Middle East-based Fifth Fleet, called on Iran and the U.S. to 鈥渜uickly resume talks.鈥
Trump's decision and the risks
The decision to attack was a , who won the White House partly on the promise of .
But Trump also vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. He initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country鈥檚 leaders to give up its nuclear program.
For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the strikes were the culmination of a decades-long campaign to get the U.S. to strike Israel鈥檚 chief regional rival and its disputed nuclear program.
to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, but the country has never acknowledged it.
Netanyahu praised Trump, saying his decision "will change history.鈥 said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war.
Iran and Israel trade more attacks
Israel鈥檚 military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Amir, called the U.S. attack a key 鈥渢urning point" but added: "We still have targets to strike and objectives to complete."
Iran鈥檚 paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a , including its Khorramshahr-4, which can carry multiple warheads. Israeli authorities reported that more than 80 people suffered mostly minor injuries. A multistory building in Tel Aviv was significantly damaged.
Israel鈥檚 military said it 鈥渟wiftly neutralized鈥 the Iranian missile launchers that fired, and began a series of strikes toward military targets in western Iran.
Explosions boomed Sunday afternoon in the Iranian port city of Bushehr, home to Iran鈥檚 only nuclear power plant, three semiofficial Iranian media outlets reported. Israel鈥檚 military said it struck missile launchers in Bushehr, Isfahan and Ahvaz, as well as a missile command center in the Yazd area where it said Khorramshahr missiles were stored.
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 865 people and wounded 3,396 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group said of those dead, it identified 363 civilians and 215 security force personnel.
At Turkey鈥檚 border with Iran, one departing Iranian defended his country鈥檚 nuclear program.
鈥淲e were minding our own business,鈥 Behnam Puran said.
At least 24 people in Israel have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.
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This story has been corrected to remove a reference to damage to Fordo's entryways.
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Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi, Mehdi Fattahi and Amir Vahdat in Iran; Aamer Madhani in Morristown, New Jersey; Julia Frankel in Jerusalem; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv; Lolita Baldor in Narragansett, Rhode Island; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Rusen Takva in Van, Turkey; Joah Boak in Washington; and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this story.
