The US has attacked three nuclear sites inside Iran, President Donald Trump said on Sunday morning, Australian time.
The US strikes come after years of tension between Israel and Iran descended into aerial combat, which began on June 13.
The strikes are a major escalation, bringing the US directly into the Iran war.
This is what we know so far.
Iran Nuclear sites bombed
Iranian officials have confirmed that three nuclear facilities, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, were struck. The extent of the damage is unknown.
The sites have been a key focus of the recent conflict because Israel believes Iran is enriching uranium to levels that could enable it to build a nuclear weapon. Iran has argued its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
These secretive nuclear facilities are located deep underground, making them extremely difficult to bomb.
Fordow, located in a bunker beneath a mountain, could only be hit by bombs capable of destroying underground targets.
How the strikes unfolded
Before the strike, Reuters reported the US had moved B-2 bombers to a Pacific base.
The bombers can carry the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, also known as a “bunker-buster” bomb.
It is believed only this bomb can breach the underground Fordow facility.
Trump said a “full payload of bombs” was dropped on Fordow but did not say which type of bombs were used.
People on the ground in Iran have told ABC Middle East correspondent Allyson Horn that the ground was shaking violently, and it felt like an earthquake.
A US official confirmed bunker-buster bombs were dropped on the Fordow and Natanz sites, the New York Times is reporting.
Is the US attack a surprise?
President Trump had said as late as Friday that he would decide if the US would attack Iran “within the next two weeks”.
Earlier in the week, the president had said he wanted Iran to “give up entirely” on nuclear weapons.
How close Iran was to being able to build a nuclear weapon has been fiercely debated.
US intelligence agencies had said Iran was not trying to build a nuclear weapon. But last Wednesday, Trump said that was “wrong”.
Smoke rises from an explosion following Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this month. (Reuters: Hamid Amlashi/WANA (West Asia News Agency))
Before Israel attacked on June 13, the US had been attempting to negotiate a deal with Iran to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.
In early June, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report stated Iran had amassed enriched uranium and warned it was “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material”.
After Israel launched strikes on Iranian sites, Iran said it would not discuss its nuclear program while it was under attack.
US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers were involved in the attack against Iran. (Reuters: Hyungwon Kang)
What happens next?
Before the attack, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abban Aragachi warned the US not to get directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict. Saying it would be “very dangerous,” while threatening to target US bases in the region.
They are heavily concentrated in Gulf Arab states: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
One Middle East expert told ABC that Iran is very likely to strike back at the US.
“I think you’re going to see some sort of military response here against US assets and military installations in the region,” said Omar Rahman, from the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
There is also the possibility that Iran may target the critical shipping route known as the Strait of Hormuz. An important waterway, one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass through it.
Iranian officials have yet to make an official statement on the attack.
Trump has warned Iran that any retaliation against the United States “will be met with force”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated Trump and said the strike would “change history”.
