President Trump addressed the nation on Saturday night after announcing that the United States had bombed Iran’s key nuclear facilities, days after Israel began strikes.
Trump announced via Truth Social on Saturday that the United States had bombed Iran’s nuclear sites across Natanz and Esfahan, along with the primary target in Fordow. The president, flanked by Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, told the nation that the strikes wiped out Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities. (RELATED: Senate Republicans Splinter Over Iran Threat)
“I can report to the world that these strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump said. “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.”
“For 40 years, Iran has been saying, death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty,” he continued. “We lost over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of the hate.
Trump, flanked by Vance, Rubio and Hegseth, says the U.S. has “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities.
“Iran, bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”@DailyCaller
— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) June 22, 2025
Following the attacks, Trump said all U.S. planes had safely returned from Iranian air space. To carry out the attacks, the U.S. used its “bunker buster,” which is “designed for “reaching and destroying our adversaries’ weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities,” sources told CNN. The US’ B-2 Spirit bombers are the only aircraft capable of carrying the “bunker buster,” CNN reported.
Trump posted on Truth Social following his address to the nation, warning that if Iran attacks U.S. personnel, it will be met with “force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.”
The Iranian-backed Houthis threatened Trump following the strikes on Iran, according to CNN.
“Trump must bear the consequences,” Houthi political bureau member Hizam al-Assad posted on X.
Amid reports that the president would decide whether to strike Iran within 24-48 hours, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump said he would decide within two weeks.
Trump originally gave Iran 60 days to reach a nuclear deal with the United States. Talks began to slow as Tehran indicated that it was committed to having civilian-grade enrichment. The president previously stated that Iran would not be able to enrich uranium under any prospective deal with the U.S.
On day 61, Israel struck Iran, targeting Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian state media confirmed that Israel killed the top Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in the first major round of strikes, Reuters reported.
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post following Israel’s original attack.
“Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!” another Truth Social from the same day read.
On Friday, one day before the U.S. attacked, Iran indicated that it would not negotiate over its nuclear program as Israeli forces continue to hammer the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported.
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump said in his address to the nation. “Remember, there are many targets left.”
Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill, and most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close,” the president said.