'A full payload of bombs...': Donald Trump orders strikes on 3 Iran nuclear sites

The United States launched airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21, marking a dramatic escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict and drawing immediate backlash from within Congress.

President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes on Truth Social, declaring the operation a success. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump wrote, emphasizing that “a full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”

The strikes came as Israel’s week-long air campaign against Iran expanded, targeting uranium enrichment facilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had repeatedly urged Trump to intervene militarily, according to U.S. officials.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned just days earlier that American involvement would lead to “irreparable damage.”

Trump, celebrating the operation, called it “an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD,” and added, “IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR.” He is set to address the nation from the White House at 10 p.m. ET.

Truth Social experienced a widespread outage across the United States on Saturday evening, with users reporting significant disruptions on both the app and website. As of 8:20 p.m. EDT, outage tracker DownDetector had logged over 1,700 reports, most citing server-related issues.

But the decision triggered swift political fallout. “This is not Constitutional,” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, wrote on social media while reposting Trump’s announcement. Massie, a vocal critic of unauthorized military interventions, previously introduced legislation requiring congressional approval for any Iran strike.

Meanwhile, the State Department began evacuating U.S. citizens from Israel and the West Bank. “The Department of State has begun assisted departure flights from Israel,” announced U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee.

The strikes utilized America’s Massive Ordnance Penetrator—bunker-busting bombs carried exclusively by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. U.S. forces are uniquely equipped to destroy Iran’s heavily fortified underground sites, a capability Israel lacks.

Trump’s earlier withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and his repeated vows to block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, laid the groundwork for Friday’s military escalation.