Trucks seen swarming Fordow -

Iran claims to have smuggled almost all of the country’s highly enriched uranium to a secret location before the United States launched strikes on its nuclear bases.

Donald Trump dispatched seven B-2 stealth bombers from American soil to drop massive bunker-busting bombs on three enrichment facilities, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, on Saturday night, in an effort to pummel Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Following the strikes, Mr Trump on Sunday said the US took the bomb “right out of Iran’s hands”.

In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: “We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the ‘bomb’ right out of their hands.”

His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said Iran’s nuclear ambitions had been “obliterated”.

But officials believe that most of the material at Fordow, 400kg of 60 percent enriched uranium, had been moved elsewhere before the attack – codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer.

Satellite images of convoys leaving all three sites in recent days appeared to support Iran’s claims that it moved its 400kg stockpile – much of it previously held at Isfahan.

One image, released by Maxar Technologies, a US defence contractor, appeared to show a line of 16 trucks snaking down a road near to the entrance of the Fordow plant on June 19, which is concealed with earth and rubble.

Trucks, bulldozers and security convoys appeared to swarm Fordow, with analysts suggesting the image revealed a “frantic effort” to move centrifuges or shielding materials, according to TS2 Space, a Polish defence firm.

Other images showed that Natanz, Iran’s largest enrichment site, had already been damaged by extensive Israeli strikes.

This means Iran could still possess the material needed to develop a nuclear weapon, although this would be several years away and dependent on Tehran’s ability to rebuild vital equipment.

Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst, told The Telegraph that even if Iran had moved its uranium, it would be “like having fuel without a car”, adding: “They have the uranium, but they can’t do a lot with it, unless they have built something we don’t know about on a small scale.”

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to the supreme leader, said: “Even assuming the complete destruction of the sites, the game is not over, because enriched materials, indigenous knowledge, and political will remain intact.”

Uranium enrichment is the process of increasing the concentration of the uranium-235 isotope in natural uranium.

To build a nuclear weapon, uranium must be enriched to about 90 per cent U-235. Once enriched to that level, the material is considered “weapons grade”.

Iran enriches uranium using centrifuges, which spin uranium hexafluoride gas at high speeds to separate the uranium isotopes, increasing the concentration of U-235.

This process, called centrifuge enrichment, is done in stages called cascades. Iran has been progressively installing more advanced centrifuges, like the IR-2m and IR-6 models, which are faster and more efficient than the older IR-1 centrifuges.

The more advanced the centrifuge, the faster and more efficiently it can separate uranium-235 from uranium-238 and in turn, speed up the time needed to make a nuclear bomb.

Iran’s current centrifuge capacity could allow it to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in less than two weeks, according to the Arms Control Association.

It is transported inside steel cylinders, specially designed to withstand significant pressure and temperature changes, according to the World Nuclear Association. The cylinders are then placed inside an extra level of protective casing, called an overpack, and can be transported via rail, road and sea.

Iran produces most of its near weapons-grade material at Fordow, its most heavily fortified nuclear facility, buried deep within a mountain, and considered a high-value target for America.

The base, reportedly shielded by half a mile of rock, could only be penetrated by the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators or MOP, weapons experts said prior to the attack.

The bunker-busting MOPs are the largest and most powerful conventional bombs in the US arsenal.

As of May 17, Iran has amassed 408.6kg (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found.

It was an increase of 133.8kg (294.9 pounds), or almost 50 per cent, since the IAEA’s last report in February.

JD Vance, the US vice-president, appeared to confirm the suggestion that the material had been moved at the 11th hour.

“We’re going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel,” he told ABC News.

On Saturday, stealth pilots pummelled Iran’s nuclear programme with 14 GBU-57 bombs, each weighing 30,000lbs, while a US submarine launched a further two dozen Tomahawk missiles.

Credit: Reuters

In a televised address to the US a few hours later, Mr Trump said the strikes had “completely and totally obliterated” three of Iran’s nuclear sites – and warned of worse to come.

“This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” he added.

The full extent of the damage inside Fordow remains unclear.

At a news conference on Sunday, Gen Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”

Yet two Israeli officials told the New York Times that their initial analysis suggested the fortified site at Fordow had sustained serious damage but had not been completely destroyed.

They also said Iran appeared to have moved equipment and uranium away from the site.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground.

A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the claim.

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Even a visit to Putin won’t save Iran’s regime

Now Iran really is alone. For decades, the Islamic Republic’s ruthless leaders dedicated themselves to preparing for the moment when America would attack their nuclear plants.

Today, the crisis long foretold has finally arrived – and Iran has seldom had fewer options for striking back. No one in Tehran would have relied on any other country to come to their aid against the US.

Iran has a “strategic partnership” with Russia, and Abbas Araghchi, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister, is expected in Moscow on Monday. True enough, Vladimir Putin was always happy to buy Iran’s drones and fire them at Ukrainian cities, but there is zero chance that he will risk war with the US for the sake of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.

Whatever else he is in Moscow for, Mr Araghchi will not be expecting any material help from Russia.

The same applies to China, no matter how publicly critical Xi Jinping, the country’s president, might be of Donald Trump’s attack on Iran.

Beijing called the strikes a “violation of international law”. China was always willing to import Iran’s sanctioned oil at a knock-down price, but Mr Xi is not going to fight America to save the Ayatollahs in Tehran.

Khamenei has always known that Iran has no real friends among the nations – hence his great project was to build his own axis of non-state allies by arming and funding terrorist groups across the Middle East.

The plan was that Iran would be able to mobilise so many armed movements that no American president would risk starting a war. The Revolutionary Guard would supply these groups with enough missiles to mete out instant and overwhelming retribution, targeting first Israel and then US allies and bases across the Middle East.

Now American bombs are falling on Iran – yet remarkably little of the above has so far happened. Missiles fired from Iran have inflicted significant physical destruction on Israel, killing 24 people.

A plan with one great flaw

But Khamenei’s plan was for Hezbollah in Lebanon to let fly with 100,000 Iranian-supplied missiles, pulverising Tel Aviv and forcing all Israelis to live underground for weeks on end.

Shia militias in Iraq and Syria were supposed to join in the bombardment, along with Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Together they comprised Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance”, ready to strike at Khamenei’s command.

Yet this plan had one great flaw – everyone knew about it. Long before Mr Trump ordered US bombers into action, Israel had been systematically destroying or degrading every single member of the Axis.

Hezbollah was eviscerated by last year’s Israeli offensive, which eliminated its leadership and thousands of footsoldiers. This in turn triggered the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, depriving that country’s Shia militias of their protector.

The armed groups in Iraq are lying low, and the Houthis in Yemen, having suffered both Israeli and US air strikes, are not leaping to Iran’s defence.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, carefully deprived Iran of the means to retaliate. Under this pressure, the Axis of Resistance turned out to be “weaker than a spider’s web”, to adopt the phrase used about Israel by Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader of Hezbollah, before he was killed by Israeli bombs.

Today, the risk of escalation has to be set against the reality of a gravely weakened Iran, whose plans for hitting back lie in ruins.

More missiles will probably be fired at Israel, and possibly other countries in the region. But the breaking of the “Axis of Resistance” and Iran’s isolation helps explain why Mr Trump was confident enough to strike.

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Bring enough coffins if you join war, Iranians tell Trump

Protesters wave Iranian flags while chanting anti-US and Israel slogans in Tehran.

The US must bring a “sufficient number of coffins” if it enters a war with Iran, a hardline Iranian MP has warned.

Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, responded to Donald Trump’s bombing of nuclear sites on Sunday morning.

He said: “Bring a sufficient number of coffins with you, along with the B-2. We are not willing to bury the bodies of American soldiers on the pure soil of Iran.”

It came as other hardliners clambered for war with the US, calling for US bases in the Gulf to be hit and for Iran to race to build a nuclear weapon before it is too late.

The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned of retaliation “beyond enemy calculations”, while MPs were clambering for war with the US on Sunday.

Commentators said Iran should withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) immediately. “Since the NPT has brought us no benefit or deterrence, withdraw from it.”

He suggested Iran should “build 20 tactical bombs with 400kg” of enriched uranium.

The bellicose rhetoric was countered by moderate Iranians expressing frustration with the regime on social media. “What response do our forces have?” one asked.

“Here every day feels like a month. Here minutes drag on. Here every time they attack, until you hear from your friends, thousands of terrible scenarios come to mind. We’re stuck here,” another wrote.

Iranian leaders face another ultimatum from Mr Trump: give up its nuclear programme completely or face further air strikes.

“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left,” Mr Trump had warned overnight.

Amir Hossein Sabeti, an MP, dismissed concerns about damage to the Fordow nuclear facility as a “diversionary”.

He declared that “America has officially entered the war with Iran” and warned that “without a firm response, Iran’s deterrence will be destroyed”.

Credit: IRNA

Hamid Rasaei another lawmaker, called for attacks on US bases in Saudi Arabia.

“Attacking anywhere will not hurt America except US bases in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “This is not just one target – it’s one arrow with multiple targets.”

Ata’ollah Mohajerani, a former Iranian official, called for withdrawing from the NPT. He said “two countries with nuclear weapons have attacked Iran’s nuclear centres” and “the agency has not condemned the attacks”.

The IRGC went further, warning in a statement that Iran “may use options beyond the calculations of the aggressor front” and described American military bases in the region as vulnerable rather than strong.

“The number, dispersion and extent of American military bases in the region have not strengthened them, but doubled their vulnerability factor,” the IRGC said, calling the US attack an “obvious and unprecedented crime”.

“Also, today’s aggression by the American terrorist regime has led the Islamic Republic of Iran, within the framework of its legitimate right of self-defence, to use options beyond the understanding and delusional calculations of the aggressor front, and the aggressors against this land must await regretful responses.”

Reza Iravani, a state TV analyst, declared: “It’s now our turn to shake the world,” calling for a response that would lead to “the complete collapse of the Zionist regime and the destruction of America’s domination structure in the region.”

“From now on, it is this enemy that must fear our wrath, not us fearing their noise,” Mr Iravani said.

“Today, perhaps a response beyond imagination is not a strategic choice, but a national security imperative.”

He warned that America must know “it neither has the right to move freely with its flag in the Persian Gulf, nor has immunity in Middle Eastern skies, nor are its personnel and military bases in the region safe from fire.”

Mr Iravani added: “Iran does not just build with wounds, it charges with wounds.”

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Trump Warned Iran Would Be ‘Obliterated’ Over Assassination Plot

President Donald Trump warned months ago that he had given his advisers instructions to “obliterate” Iran if the regime carried out alleged longstanding plans to assassinate him.

The wild claim was made long before the president’s controversial decision to join Israel’s war against Tehran, and came after three men were charged over a foiled plot by the Iranian regime to kill Trump while he was campaigning to return to the White House last year.

“If they did that, they would be obliterated,’’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in February, when asked about the plot.

“That would be the end. I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left.”

The alleged assassination plan made headlines last year, days after Trump defeated Kamala Harris.

In an indictment that was unsealed on Nov. 9, the department accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps of asking an Afghan national, Farhad Shakeri, to surveil and ultimately assassinate Trump—if possible, before the election.

If the assassination could not be carried out within that timeframe, the department alleged, the Revolutionary Guard would wait until after the election as it believed Trump would lose to Harris. This would have resulted in him having fewer Secret Service protections, making it easier to kill him.

Had the alleged assassination attempt been carried out, it would have been the third attempt on Trump’s life after his near-death experience in Pennsylvania in June, followed by the foiled assassination attempt at his West Palm golf course in September.

But the U.S. government had repeatedly warned him before then that Iran may try to retaliate for a 2020 drone strike Trump ordered during his first term, which killed then-commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani.

While Iran has previously denied wanting to kill Trump, or that it is targeting U.S. citizens, last night’s attack has raised concerns that Iran could seek to retaliate, not just against U.S. Army bases and troops in the Middle East, but also against the president and Americans more broadly.

In recent days, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the assassination plot to fuel claims that Trump was a top target for Iran.

“He killed Qasem Soleimani. He made it very clear, including now, ‘You cannot have a nuclear weapon, which means you cannot enrich uranium.’ He’s been very forceful, so for them, he’s enemy number one,” Netanyahu told Fox News last week.

Iran’s supposed desire to kill Trump also became the subject of a verbal slanging match between conservative pundit Tucker Carlson and Texas Senator Ted Cruz last week as Trump pondered whether to join Israel’s war with Tehran.

“Do we believe that they’re trying to murder Trump?” Carlson asked Cruz after the GOP senator mentioned it during their now viral conversation on The Tucker Carlson Show.

“Yes, I do,” Cruz replied.

“Then why aren’t you calling for military action against Tehran right now?” asked Carlson during a heated discussion in which he advocated against support Israel’s bombing campaign.

“Because they’re not very effective. In terms of hitmen, their hitmen are not very effective… They’re a weak country who is on its knees,” Cruz responded.

“So why are we so afraid of them? Why are they the biggest threat? If they’re a weak country that’s on its knees? I’m trying to keep track,” Carlson said, prompting Cruz to accuse him of being “snarky.”

The three men charged over the assassination plot were 51-year-old Shakeri, who is believed to be at large in Tehran, alongside two other men he met while serving time in a U.S. prison for robbery: New York residents Carlisle Rivera, 49, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36.

At the time Trump claimed he had given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it succeeded in killing him, he was signing an executive order directing his Cabinet to put “maximum pressure” on the country by imposing sanctions or investigating U.S. proxy groups.

The order also said that “Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles; Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralized; and Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.”