The US has bombed Fordow and other sites.

I think we need to focus on facts here. The director of the CIA said they had relied on what had been historically a reliable source - which presumably meant spies? But just one source. No one officially has seen the site other than Iranians. The site has not been inspected by the IAEA yet and they have said various things a long the way some of which has been misquoted, but the key thing they have said is that they really are not at all sure yet about anything and won't be unless and until an inspection took place - and when asked days, months years they said they couldn't answer. I am not suggesting the US is deliberately misleading though. But Iran has in fact been quite straightforward during the 12 days in their reporting - they also gave US advance notice of strikes in Qatar which the US thanked them for.

Also sorry to correct but I think you got it wrong upthread too - basically the day after Israel attacked (the first attack) the Iran FM said that they were responding but that as soon as Israel stopped they would stop, and said the same thing after Trump persuaded Israel to commit to ceasefire - so it was de facto Iran responding not attacking and saying throughout that they would stop once Israel stopped. As in, there is footage of Iran saying this in clear and plain language several times. (Sorry if that was a different poster though)

Yes agree the main thing is that they don’t keep going.

The language used is heightened. There was a statement at one point during it that just sounded so unhinged, that the leaders really shouldn’t have enriched uranium capacity.

In a way let them think it so and feel satisfied rather than keep going.

If any more evidence is needed that the Ayatollah is deluded, that is it. Him saying that Iran delivered a "heavy slap" to the US.

Er.... I think it was very much the other way round, actually!

The sooner this guy gets replaced the better (by internal means not by regime change being imposed by the US or Israel).

BBC Summary:

• US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth calls US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites at the weekend "historically successful"
• Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Hegseth cites various assessments, including from the CIA and the UN's nuclear watchdog
• Hegseth also attacks the media, after a leaked intelligence report earlier this week suggested the strikes' impact may have been limited
• The update comes after Iran's supreme leader said the US "failed to achieve anything significant" with the nuclear strikes
• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also claims victory over Israel - and says Iran delivered a "heavy slap" to the US by attacking a US base in Qatar

The director of the CIA has said that they had "new intelligence from an historically reliable and accurate source/method" about the situation at the nuclear sites - what does that mean then?! By "historically reliable and accurate"?

Israel has some 400 nukes is the problem, which is why Iran may go public on wanting to develope nuclear power - and if US threaten strikes then Iran will threaten retaliation.

Iran said (I think) that the 3 sites were working on non weapon projects which could mean submarines, power station etc and they are saying now that expensive scientific equipment has been damaged, and that the US should pay for the damage done.

Good news that both Israel and Iran appear to be honouring the ceasefire between them for a third day.

Hegseth to hold 'interesting and irrefutable' briefing on Iran

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth will hold a "major news conference" today about the American bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, Donald Trump has said.

In a statement on Truth Social, the US president said that Hegseth, together with military representatives, will speak at the Pentagon "in order to fight for the dignity of our great American pilots".

"These patriots were very upset," he wrote on social media.

Trump said the pilots "felt terribly" after a US intel leak - reported by CNN and The New York Times - which said the bombing raids may not have destroyed Iran's capacity to make a nuclear weapon, despite the president's claims.

Trump said the news reports "totally misrepresented the facts". He accused CNN and The New York Times of being "fake news" - a favourite phrase of his when the media finds fault with or questions his presidency.

The conference will take place at 1pm UK time.

news.sky.com/story/iran-trump-us-strikes-israel-tehran-netanyahu-nuclear-fordow-latest-13382979

The CIA director says his agency has intelligence indicating that Iran's nuclear programme was "severely damaged" by the recent US strikes

I agree. I think that description is more apt for earlier.

Now pretty much everyone will be making an effort to stop it.

@PaxAeterna with luck the US getting involved has set Iran back many years with regard to developing nuclear capabilities and may have even encouraged them not to bother trying to develop them again for the foreseeable future since the US could just destroy again what will have cost Iran millions of pounds to develop.

I think the US & Israel will be demanding Iran agree to regular inspections etc in future as part of the negotiated peace conditions.

I think the world is safer without Iran developing nuclear capability. They will not be allowed to "trundle on with their nuclear plan". They are in a much weaker position after what Trump and Israel have done than they were before, whether their leadership admit it or not.

Is there info on the latest action ? commentators have said the base / polls are in support of one off action but not anything that’s ongoing.

@Twiglets1 I completely understand that Iran having nuclear weapons isn’t a good idea. I’m not really sure what the US getting involved has really achieved though. Going against what Americans themselves want. Or Israeli actions being against what their allies were asking for. It’s all more divided.

The world is not safer and some people died while large swathes of the population in Israel and Iran were terrified. And Iran will trundle on with their nuclear plan to avoid the regime being ousted.

@MistressoftheDarkSide Trump just thinks he can bully everyone with his strongman act. It makes me want to roll up into a blanket for the next 4 years.

Just as an aside, in relation to Hiroshima, some historians, including a Japanese-American historian who has reviewed Japanese original sources, now think that Hiroshima was inhuman and caused horrifying consequences, but that it didn't do more damage than the conventional hits on Tokyo and other parts of Japan, and it wasn't the key factor leading to Japan to surrender a month afterwards. That a key factor was the threat of the SU entering that phase of the war.

Members of the IDF could equally be liberal with the truth yes … which is why we all need to wait for the official reports to come out with actual evidence rather than just believing the side we want to believe.

From what I’ve read there is no way of knowing the damage done deep underground without full investigations.

Yet almost immediately we got claims the site was both obliterated or barely touched depending on who was speaking.

If you watch Netanyahu's speech, unfortunately, although the first 5 mins are "positive spin", the rest talks about the future in not hugely peaceful terms. Trump did well to get a ceasefire, but really should be focusing on starting peace negotiations around a two state solution now. So it doesn't all blow up again.

The focus of everyone now should be encouraging Israel and Palestine to agree a fair and equal two state solution, and put international pressure to not breach it, as if that happens most of the other issues fall away, as THAT is what will protect us all from future war. Not bombing.

None of us do know that unfortunately.

True, though the IDF and Mossad can be just as equally liberal with the truth.

Ironically it is in Israel's interest to say the sites are destroyed to justify American intervention and counter the Americans that still extremely angry.

It's also in Iran's interest to keep quiet and go along with the destruction story to present themselves as no longer a threat.

Wraps up this whole episode quite neatly.

Its also possible there was some sort of undercover mission by Israeli agents and he just outed them 😬

Who even knows at this point what is the truth and what isn't.

Agree about his attitude to the truth.
Regrettably, I would now say the same about all the leaders with any power. MSM is also no longer free.

I think he has a casual relationship with the truth.

Nevertheless I will wait for the official reports to come out rather than trusting anonymous sources at this stage.

He also claims Israeli agents went into Fordo to check if it had all been destroyed which Israel have said they have no knowledge about. He is starting to sound increasingly erratic.

Labour will ramp up rhetoric to justify spend. So it’s that too briefing to media. At least the ‘boots on the ground, coalition of willing’ nonsense has died down. They’ll push the war angle though for other reasons.