The United States quietly informed Iran ahead of devastating air strikes on three key nuclear sites, signalling no desire for full-scale war.
A senior Iranian political source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Amwaj.media that Washington conveyed that it did not seek an all-out confrontation on June 21, and intends to target only the Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities.
Iranian officials swiftly evacuated the sites, securing "most" of the country’s enriched uranium stockpile in undisclosed locations, according to the source.
Neither the US nor Iranian authorities have publicly commented on the report.
The United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, on the other hand, said London was informed ahead of the attack.
Three B-2 bombers launched six 13.6 kg bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on Fordow’s underground enrichment plant.
Experts believe two bombs struck each of Fordow’s heavily fortified entrances, with another pair aimed at its ventilation shaft.
Meanwhile, a US submarine reportedly fired 30 Tomahawk missiles at Natanz and the sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex.
Both sites had been hit days earlier by Israeli forces.
US involvement
Fox News, citing a US official, suggested Isfahan presented a harder target than the deeply buried Fordow site.
“This was the hardest target,” the official said on background. “Everyone was talking about and focused on Fordow, but Isfahan was actually the hardest target.”
President Trump declared the nuclear sites “completely and totally obliterated,” warning that future US strikes would be “far greater.”
Iran condemned the strikes as illegal and a breach of international law.
Tehran, earlier, accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of “obscuring the truth” about the country’s nuclear programme after the UN watchdog said Iran is in breach of its nuclear obligations.
Iran’s nuclear authority said legal measures were being prepared, as both sides brace for what could follow this dramatic escalation.
