{"id":828893,"date":"2025-06-22T07:22:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T05:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=828893"},"modified":"2025-06-22T07:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T05:23:55","slug":"united-states-bombs-iran-in-major-escalation-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/828893\/united-states-bombs-iran-in-major-escalation-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"United States bombs Iran in major escalation of war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US President Donald Trump said American bombers struck Iran\u2019s three main nuclear sites and threatened more attacks if Tehran doesn\u2019t capitulate, pulling the US directly into the country\u2019s conflict with Israel despite his longtime promises to avoid new wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the nation, Trump said Iran\u2019s \u201ckey nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.\u201d He threatened \u201cfar greater\u201d attacks if Iran doesn\u2019t now make peace, raising the specter of even deeper US involvement in the Middle Eastern conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump had said earlier in a social media post that a \u201cpayload of BOMBS\u201d was dropped on Fordow, the uranium-enrichment site buried deep under a mountain and seen as vulnerable only to \u201cbunker buster\u201d munitions that the US possesses. Natanz and Isfahan, two other sites, were also struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur objective was the destruction of Iran\u2019s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world\u2019s No. 1 state sponsor of terror,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater \u2014 and a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US\u2019s move is \u201coutrageous and will have everlasting consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran\u2019s nuclear regulatory agency said there was no sign of radiation contamination at the sites and that it had take precautions in anticipation of an attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the move marks an extraordinary escalation by the president after Israel began airstrikes across Iran on June 13. It amounts to the most serious foreign-policy decision of his two terms so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s decision goes against the advice of US allies in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the United Nations\u2019 nuclear watchdog. Known as the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has repeatedly warned that nuclear facilities must not be attacked<\/a> given the potential for radiation leaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran has long said it doesn\u2019t want a nuclear bomb, and Trump\u2019s own intelligence agencies had assessed recently it still hadn\u2019t committed to developing such a weapon. Trump, however, had dismissed those findings and had declined to rule out joining the Israeli strikes, which had also killed several prominent Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fears about Iran\u2019s nuclear program among Western and Arab nations have grown in recent years because the Islamic Republic has enriched uranium far beyond<\/a> the levels needed for civilian purposes such as fueling nuclear power plants. It\u2019s processing uranium almost to the levels needed to make a bomb, without giving a clear reason why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The US strikes could lead to attacks on American assets in the Middle East. Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Washington of \u201cirreparable damage\u201d if it bombed his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US will likely have to put its troops on high alert. It has around 50,000 service members in the region, the bulk being in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar hosts the largest US base in the area. Called Al Udeid, it\u2019s also the regional headquarters for US Central Command, which oversees the American military in the Middle East. Bahrain is the site of the US\u2019s main naval base there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s combative language in the last couple of days had also triggered new threats<\/a> from the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen. The president agreed a ceasefire<\/a> with the Houthis in early May. If that falls apart, US naval ships in the Red Sea could once again come under assault from the group\u2019s drones and missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s retaliation could also come in the form of cyber attacks against American or Israeli interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also possible that Tehran opts to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to Ali Vaez, the director of the International Crisis Group\u2019s Iran Project and a long-time analyst of the country\u2019s atomic program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NPT is the bedrock arms-control agreement that compels signatories to accept inspections from the IAEA. If Iran left, the world would get even less information about what remains of its atomic sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier Saturday, the State Department said the US had begun evacuating US citizens from Israel. The agency organized two flights to Athens from Tel Aviv with about 70 US citizens, family members and permanent residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that the Iranians are measured in their response but there will be a response,\u201d said Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center. \u201cThis is an act of war by the United States against a foreign country which has not attacked us lately. Americans are at risk all over the Middle East, all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing a US official it didn\u2019t identify, the New York Times reported that six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen of the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Fordow. It said two other B-2s dropped bunker-busters on Natanz and fired cruise missiles at Natanz and Isfahan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel was notified in advance of the strikes, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attacks, a senior White House official said. Netanyahu later said the US and Israel had had coordinated fully on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fears of an impending strike had eased after Trump\u2019s team said on Thursday he would make a decision within two weeks<\/a>. On Friday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK met their Iranian counterpart, Araghchi, in Geneva<\/a> to try to get Tehran to restart nuclear talks with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran had been in negotiations with the US for about two months, but called them off after Israel started bombing its territory. The two has made some progress toward a deal that would curb Tehran\u2019s atomic activities in return for sanctions relief, but stalled on enrichment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran insisted it must be allowed to continue that process, even if to the low level needed for civilian purposes. Trump and Israel said it shouldn\u2019t be able to carry out any enrichment at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Energy Prices<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The war between Israel and Iran had evoked fears of a regional conflict that results in massive civilian casualties, and disrupts the flow of energy and other trade through the region. Those concerns among world powers and investors will only increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most immediate impact on the global economy could be through higher oil and liquefied natural gas prices. About a fifth of the world\u2019s daily oil supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One option for Iran would be to hit or hassle crude and LNG tankers passing through the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For days, Trump had faced conflicting advice from his supporters, after he campaigned on promises to keep the US out of foreign wars, pointing to American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq this century. MAGA allies, including longtime Trump supporter Steve Bannon, have warned against any US intervention, insisting this is Israel\u2019s fight to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Republicans urged Trump to join the fight against Iran, arguing that Tehran was more vulnerable following Israel\u2019s attacks. They said it was an opportunity to deliver on the president\u2019s pledge that Iran\u2019s regime would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and his advisers suggested in recent days that any strike would be limited. Trump briefed Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not the start of a forever war,\u201d Senator Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on X. \u201cThere will not be American boots on the ground in Iran. This was a precise, limited strike, which was necessary and by all accounts was very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel said its attacks on Iran were aimed at setting back or destroying its nuclear program. Those seriously damaged Iranian military sites and some nuclear facilities. They also neutralized Iran\u2019s air defenses, given Israeli planes dominance over Iran\u2019s airspace and making a US strike easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel needed the US because it lacked the heavy bombs and B-2 stealth jets required to destroy nuclear sites buried deep underground at Fordow and Natanz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natanz\u2019s above-ground facilities were already damaged by Israeli strikes, but not its enrichment sites underground. Fordow was likely unscathed by Israel\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran responded to Israeli bombing by firing waves of ballistic missiles and drones at the Jewish state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While around 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds injured, according to the government, Iran\u2019s attacks have waned in recent days, suggesting its trying to preserve its weaponry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s government says at least 200 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israel\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIran is going to be facing a real dilemma, because they\u2019ve already been dramatically weakened,\u201d said Dennis Ross, who served as former US President Bill Clinton\u2019s Middle East envoy and is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey will try to do something to show they didn\u2019t just capitulate or submit, but they have their own interest in trying to limit this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s ability to react may be limited by its economic weakness, with inflation running at around 40%. It is also largely isolated internationally. While allies such as Russia and China condemned Israel\u2019s strikes and warned against US intervention, they\u2019ve offered little concrete support to Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Trup administration in the Situation Room, overseeing the operation. Source: White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States has bombed Iran in a shocking escalation of war in the Middle East that will reverberate through global markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":828896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10849,1122,133,10022],"class_list":["post-828893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":828898,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828893\/revisions\/828898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}