THE USAF finally launched ferocious assault on Iran many days after beginning of Iran-Israel war.
It was on 22nd of June 2025 that in a joint operation named ‘operation midnight hammer’, by US Air force and Navy attacked three nuclear sites in Iran namely the Fordow Uranium enrichment plant, the Nantanz Nuclear Facility and the Isfahan Nu-clear Technology were targeted with fourteen GBU-57/A/B MOP, 30,000 pound Bunker Buster bombs. This operation involved 25 American aircraft that took off from their base in the USA and remained in the air for about 36 hours before landing back safely in the US, at the same time two dozen cruise missiles were launched at Isfahan site from an American submarine and in total 75 precision guided weapons were used during this operation.
U.S. president Donald Trump said the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities; however, bomb damage assessment of the strikes is still ongoing, and a preliminary U.S. intelligence report suggested damage was more limited. Congressional Republicans largely supported Trump’s action, while most Democrats and some Republicans were concerned about the constitutionality of the move, its effects, and Iran’s response.[1] World reaction was mixed, as some world leaders welcomed the move to incapacitate Iran’s nuclear pro-gram while others expressed concern over escalation or condemned the strikes. Iran responded by attacking a U.S. base in Qatar. The next day Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran, Israel, and the U.S., ending the conflict.
According to the announcement of the Iranian Govt. the Nuclear site at Nantanz which is the largest Uranium en-richment site had already been evacuated much before the American assault. The Israeli air force had previously de-stroyed its above ground structures and now the American attack damaged the centrifuge machines in the operation yet the enriched stock of uranium was safely removed from this site much before the attack. The complex at Isfahan stored bomb grade nuclear fuel was also damaged by the Israeli Air force and the US bombing damaged it further and satellite images also shows immense damage to these facilities. This American brazen attack on the nuclear facilities of an independent country is totally uncalled for and unheard of in the annals of world history and this could be a dangerous as it could be repeated in future world conflicts with some serious consequences. All sanctities of nuclear sites in any country are now null and void. Nuclear sites in India and Pakistan have not been attacked even during extreme tensions or hostilities between the two countries but now the India Isreali nexus against Pakistan has sounded the alarm bells for the future.
The American attack on the Iranian Nuclear facilities has ignited a big debate in the USA and all over the world if this attack was called for and did it manage to destroy the Iranian nuclear project for acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The site at Fordow had provided Iran with enough uranium to make 9 nuclear bombs enriched up to 60%. And this site was located about 800 meters deep inside the mountainous terrain. At this depth the attack may not have caused the hoped for damage and the enriched uranium could be safe at some other location so in all probability the Iranian Nuclear programe may have been damaged and delayed but not destroyed as so arrogantly claimed by the US President Donald Trump. Iran will now face immense pressures from the USA and its allies to come to terms with hem and sign the much publicized nuclear deal to cap and roll back its nuclear program and end the quest for acquiring nuclear weapons once for all if not Iran will be continuously under threat of further as-saults by the USA and Israel with complete cooperation and backing of the European Union and even some Arab states. Iran has so far threatened to block the Straits of Hormuz or launch a missile assault on the 19 American bases in the middle east in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and these threats have earned the displeasure of the Arab nations isolating Iran from all the major regional powers. Iran wriggled out of its ‘response dilemma’ by hit-ting the sprawling Al Udaid US base in Qatar, pre-coordinated with Qatar and the US.
This limited response avoided further retaliatory strikes and enables Iran to undertake legal, diplomatic and political recourse and advantage, subsequently during negotiations. On June 24, President Trump dramatically announced a complex ceasefire deal after extensive behind-the-scenes parleys during the 12-day crisis. Many right-wing politicians and commentators in the United States, including Rand Paul and Tucker Carlson, have criticized Trump’s support for Israeli strikes against Iran, and the possible involvement of the United States in the war.
A June 2025 poll of Trump voters found 53% said the U.S. should not get involved in the Iran–Israel conflict. A separate June 2025 poll by The Washington Post found 45% of respondents opposed the U.S. military launching airstrikes against Iran, and a further 30% were unsure; 25% supported a military response. Trump gave a short televised address in which he said, “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated”. During his statement, he further called the strikes a “spectacular military success”, confirmed the earlier reporting, and warned of more attacks if Iran did not seek peace.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
