US bombs Iran latest: US boosts travel warnings

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine on Sunday detailed how American troops attacked Iran's nuclear sites, a day after the country launched strikes against Iran.  

The U.S. attacks came after a week of open conflict between Israel and Iran, sparked by Israel’s sudden barrage of attacks against Iran’s nuclear and military structure.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Hegseth asserted that the sites were "completely and fully obliterated," and warned there would be additional strikes if Iran retaliates.

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

Here's the latest: 

US boosts travel warnings and Mideast evacuations

6:15 p.m. ET: The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel, has ordered the departure of non-essential staff from the US Embassy in Lebanon and is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East amid concerns that Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests.

The U.S. State Department also warned U.S. citizens traveling internationally to "exercise increased caution."

"There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad," the State Department said Sunday. 

Iran says it will decide how to respond

5:25 p.m. ET: Iran says the U.S. "decided to destroy diplomacy" and the Iranian military will decide "timing, nature and scale" of its response.

Trump seems willing to renew talks with Iran

1:49 p.m. ET: The Trump administration on Sunday signaled a willingness to renew talks with Iran and avoid a prolonged war as U.S. officials assessed Tehran's nuclear ambitions and the threat of retaliation against American interests.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a news conference that America "does not seek war" with Iran while Vice President JD Vance said the strikes have given Tehran the possibility of returning to negotiate with Washington.

"Operation Midnight Hammer, involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, according to Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Hegseth added. Caine said the goal of the operation — destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — had been achieved.

Iran meeting with Putin in Russia Sunday

8:45 a.m. ET: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, responding to a question from a Russian outlet, said he’ll travel to Moscow later on Sunday to meet with President Vladimir Putin, after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear sites.

"We enjoy a strategic partnership and we always consult with each other and coordinate our positions," he said, referring to Russia.

Will Iran retaliate against US?

8:30 a.m. ET: Iran's foreign minister says diplomacy is not an option after US strikes. 

"The warmongering and a lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far reaching implications of its act of aggression," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a news briefing at a conference in Turkey.

Araghchi said while the "door to diplomacy" should always be open, "this is not the case right now."

Araghchi said that there is "no red line" that the U.S. has not crossed in its recent actions against the Islamic Republic.

"And the last one and the most dangerous one was what happened only last night when they crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities only," he said.

On Sunday, Hegseth said "it would be a very bad idea for Iran or its proxies to attempt to attack American forces."

He added that America doesn't "seek war" and didn't target Iranian troops or people, but Trump warned Saturday that any retaliation from Iran would be met with more force than what was used Saturday night against the country's nuclear facilities. 

US used ‘75 precision-guided weapons’ in Iran strike

8:20 a.m. ET: Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "in total, U.S. forces employed approximately 75 precision-guided weapons during this operation."

"This included, as the president stated last night, 14, 30,000 pound GBU 57 massive Ordnance penetrators, marking the first ever operational use of this weapon. I know that battle damage is of great interest. Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction. 

"More than 125 U.S. aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals. As the secretary said, this was the largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history and the second longest B-2 mission ever flown, exceeded only by those in the days following 9/11."

Iran's nuclear ambitions ‘obliterated,’ Hegseth says

8:05 a.m. ET: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation 

"President Trump has consistently stated for over ten years that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon, full stop," Hegseth said. "Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated."

Iran responds

7:45 a.m. ET: Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the US has "launched a dangerous war against Iran." The ministry statement says the U.S. strikes came "during an ongoing diplomatic process" and thereby "betrayed diplomacy by supporting the aggressive actions of the genocidal and lawless Israeli regime."

"Now, by completing the chain of violations and crimes committed by the Zionist regime, the U.S. has itself launched a dangerous war against Iran," it added.

The ministry also said Iran "reserves its right to resist with full force against U.S. military aggression and the crimes committed by this rogue regime, and to defend Iran’s security and national interests."

U.S. bombs Iran 

The backstory:

The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday local time, directly joining Israel’s war aimed at decapitating 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.

President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes.

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

Trump's address calls attacks a ‘spectacular’ success

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."

RELATED: Read full remarks of what Trump said about bombing Iran

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."

Iran confirms attacks, vows to keep working 

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.

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.

MilitaryWorld