A U.S. official said that six American warplanes dropped a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-busters on the Fordo nuclear site, and that Navy submarines fired 30 cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. One B-2 bomber also dropped two bunker-busters on Natanz, the official said.

It was an unprecedented attack years in the making, with some last-minute misdirection meant to give the operation a powerful element of surprise.

The move, the first time the U.S. has attacked Iran, is a major escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran.