Last night, the U.S. entered the war with Iran.
President Trump upended decades of diplomacy when he sent American warplanes and submarines to strike three of Iran’s nuclear facilities — including Fordo, its top-secret site buried deep inside a mountain. The bombs fell at about 2:30 a.m. local time.
In an address from the White House, Trump said the goal of the strikes was to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon. He claimed the facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated,” but the extent of the damage is not yet clear.
Trump also called for the war to end. “Iran, the bully of the Mideast, must now make peace,” he said. He threatened “far greater” attacks if it did not.
Still, the war continues: Iran said today that it wasn’t open to diplomacy right now. It launched missiles into Israel early this morning, wounding at least 16. Israel responded with its own strikes on Iran. More than 40,000 American troops are stationed in the region, and the U.S. is expecting retaliation. (See American bases that Iran could strike.)
The U.S. attack was an “extraordinary turn for a military that was supposed to be moving on from two decades of forever wars in the Middle East,” our colleagues Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian Barnes wrote.
Below, we explain the strikes and what could happen next.
Credit…The New York Times
A chart shows the status of more than 6,000 U.S.A.I.D. programs since the start of Trump’s second term. As of May 7, only 891 of those programs remained, including one working on H.I.V./AIDS prevention for children in Rwanda and another involved in emergency food assistance in Ethiopia.
in Honduras
Citizen engagement
and democracy in Syria
H.I.V./AIDS prevention
for children in Rwanda
Emergency food
assistance in Ethiopia
H.I.V./AIDS prevention
for children in Rwanda
Citizen engagement
and democracy in Syria
Emergency food
assistance in Ethiopia
Climate resilience
in Honduras
Note: Data is as of May 7.
Source: New York Times analysis of internal and public databases
By The New York Times
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