US bombs Iran nuclear sites as Trump hails 'spectacular' success

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.

Here are the latest developments: 

Trump address

Trump addressed the nation Saturday night, saying the sites were "completely and fully obliterated" and warned Tehran against retaliation.

READ MORE: Read full remarks of what Trump said about bombing Iran

Sunday presser with Hegseth, Caine

Trump said General Dan Caine and Pete Hegseth will be holding a press conference at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday at the Pentagon.

US bombs Iran

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks also targeted the country’s Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites.

IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahan’s deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around the sites. He did not elaborate.

Another official confirmed an attack targeting Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site.

What they're saying:

"Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror," Trump said Saturday night in a televised address. "I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success."

Trump also hinted that more attacks against Iran haven't been ruled out. 

"Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace," he added. "If they do not. Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.

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

Netanyahu said the U.S. "has done what no other country on earth could do."

RELATED: When could US attack Iran? What we know about timing, targets

The other side:

Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.

"The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped," it said in its statement.

The backstory:

The decision to directly involve the U.S. comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. 

But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.

Israel-Iran conflict

Dig deeper:

Israel launched attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure last week.

The ongoing military and intelligence operation raised the potential for all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.

RELATED: Trump blocked plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, reports say

Israel had long threatened it would not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn't want — though officials there have repeatedly warned it could. 

Meanwhile:

The U.S. had for months been in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program, and had warned Israel that its attacks could threaten progress. 

And the U.S. had been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq's capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East.

How close is Iran to building a bomb?

The backstory:

Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. 

Dig deeper:

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has "undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so."

This includes enriching the purity of uranium and stockpiling it. 

By the numbers:

Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 661 pounds. The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s program put its stockpile at 18,286 pounds as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity.

What they're saying:

Farah N. Jan, a nuclear security expert at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an analysis for The Conversation that Israel believed Iran could rapidly assemble up to 15 nuclear bombs.

That belief, Jan said, is what likely prompted Israel to launch what she calls the world’s first "threshold war"—a military strike designed to prevent a country from acquiring nuclear weapons just before it reaches capability.

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