A picture taken on November 10, 2019 shows an Iranian flag at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant. — AFP
WASHINGTON: The United States has launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, with President Donald Trump saying on Saturday that it was a “very successful attack” and confirming all US aircraft were safely on their way back.
Trump had spent weeks attempting to revive a diplomatic agreement to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran, which he withdrew from in 2018. But he has now thrown his support behind Israel’s military campaign against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and top military leaders, which began just over a week ago.
AFP looks at what we know so far about the US strikes on Iran:
The targets
Trump stated that the US struck three of Iran’s main nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. He said Fordow was hit with a “full payload of bombs”.
Fordow – constructed in violation of UN resolutions – is built under a mountain near the holy city of Qom and was a key uranium enrichment site capable of housing approximately 3,000 centrifuges.
Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium for both civilian and military purposes, with high-level enrichment necessary to produce nuclear weapons.
Because of its deep underground location, Fordow had long posed a challenge for Israeli forces, who lack the bunker-busting munitions needed to effectively strike the site.
Natanz is Iran’s primary uranium enrichment centre, housing nearly 70 cascades of centrifuges across two major plants. Isfahan hosts a uranium conversion facility and a nuclear fuel fabrication plant.
The munitions
Trump did not specify the exact weapons used in the strikes, but experts suggest the GBU-57 — a 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) American bunker-busting bomb — was likely deployed to destroy Fordow.
Known officially as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the GBU-57 is designed to burrow as deep as 200 feet (60 metres) underground before detonating, unlike conventional bombs that explode on or near impact.
Testing of the GBU-57 began in 2004, and Boeing was awarded a contract in 2009 to finalise its integration with appropriate aircraft.
The aircraft
The only aircraft capable of carrying and deploying the GBU-57 is the B-2 Spirit, a US long-range stealth bomber that can transport two such weapons.
Before the strikes, flight-tracking platforms and US media outlets reported the movement of several B-2 bombers departing from a base in Missouri.
The B-2, with a range of 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometres) without refuelling, is designed to “penetrate an enemy’s most advanced defences and strike its most valuable and heavily fortified targets,” according to the US military.
The B-2 was first publicly unveiled in 1988 and flew for the first time in 1989. Its first operational delivery came in 1993. The aircraft has been used in military operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
What happens next?
Trump has called on Iran to “agree to end this war,” urging that “now is the time for peace.”
However, it is still unclear whether the strikes will lead Iran to step back or escalate the conflict further.
If Iran chooses to respond, it may do so by targeting US military personnel across the Middle East, or by attempting to block the Strait of Hormuz — a vital shipping lane through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
