Washington/Tehran/Tel Aviv, 22 June 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The US struck Iran's key nuclear sites overnight, lending military might to Israel in its war with Iran and provoking threats of "everlasting consequences" from Tehran on Sunday.

"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said late on Saturday in an address to the nation from the White House.

The US president said that US aircraft attacked three nuclear sites in Iran, including Natanz, Isfahan and the Fordow uranium enrichment facility - widely believed to be one of Israel's most critical war targets.

"Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and [to put] a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror," Trump said in the address.

"Iran - the bully of the Middle East - must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater, and a lot easier," Trump continued.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded on X on Sunday: "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences."

Araghchi accused the US of committing a "grave violation" of the UN Charter, international law and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by attacking what he described as "peaceful nuclear installations."

It remained to be seen whether the Islamic Republic would retaliate against US bases in the region - where according to US media some 40,000 soldiers are stationed.

Israel launched its campaign of airstrikes on June 13, saying it is aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon - a charge that Tehran has consistently denied, saying its nuclear programme only serves civilian purposes.

Bunker-busters deployed

The US military used two bunker-busting bombs in the attack on the Iranian nuclear facility in Natanz, US media reports said on Sunday.

These were reportedly dropped by a B-2 stealth bomber, the New York Times and CNN reported, citing a representative of the US government. Additionally, Natanz was also attacked with cruise missiles from submarines, the reports said.

Six stealth bombers dropped a total of a dozen of the largest bunker-busting bombs on the underground Fordow nuclear facility, they said.

Nuclear material removed?

Iranian media confirmed the strikes, with state news agency IRNA reporting that part of the area around the Fordow nuclear site was damaged by the US airstrike.

The report cited a spokesman for the crisis team in the affected province of Qom, who said the situation in the area had since returned to calm.

Separately, a senior security official in Isfahan province reported explosions in Isfahan and Natanz, according to the Tasnim news agency, the mouthpiece of the nation's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The official confirmed attacks "near" the nuclear facilities in both Isfahan and Natanz.

On Thursday, a former IRGC commander said in a TV interview that highly enriched uranium had already been removed from the nuclear facilities before the conflict with Israel began just over a week ago.

"We moved all the materials beforehand," said Mohsen Rezaei, a retired major general.

Some 30 rockets were fired at Israel in the attack a few hours after the US bombings in Iran, Iran's state radio reported.

Sixteen people were injured the renewed rocket attacks, according to the Israeli rescue service.

There were at least 10 impacts, including in the centre of the country.

Israel for its part announced further strikes on Iranian targets on Sunday.

Netanyahu hails Trump's 'bold' strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the US strikes a "bold decision" and a potential turning point in the region's history.

"Congratulations, President Trump," Netanyahu said in a video message.

"Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history," he added.

"History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons," he said.

Netanyahu said that at the start of the offensive against the Islamic Republic, he had promised that Iranian nuclear facilities would be destroyed one way or another. "This promise has been kept," Netanyahu said.

International alarm

UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was "gravely alarmed" by the United States' attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, warning of "catastrophic consequences" for the world.

"I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today," Guterres said in a post on X. "This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security."