Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has been speaking with the BBC News channel.

He said that there was evidence that if the US strikes were successful, they would have "crippled" Iran's "known" nuclear programme.

Taleblu says Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could retaliate if he perceives the US attack as a "decapitation strike" on the regime.

"Pride, hubris and the [Iranian] regime's quest for status" could fuel escalation, he said.

But Taleblu also said that Khamenei could also see an "off ramp" in Trump's messaging since the strikes were announced.

Image source, Reuters

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator is the most talked-about weapon of the past week - and the one that could well have been used in these US strikes tonight.

The GBU-57 - as it is officially designated - stands for Guided Bomb Unit, and the 57 the design numbers it went through.

Only the US can effectively deploy the GBU-57, and that is from B-2 Spirit stealth bombers based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

There have been numerous reports that half a dozen have been launched from Whiteman, with no confirmation though of destination.

In simple terms, deployment is as follows: a target is selected, its desired impact co-ordinates are punched into the targeting system of the bomber and these are transferred to the weapon.

Precision guidance is by satellite navigation. Dropping the very heavy bomb from high altitude - typically 50,000 feet - gives it a huge amount of kinetic energy - energy derived through motion - which allows the penetrator to punch deep through the ground.

A specially-hardened external casing maintains the bomb's structural integrity on impact. Delay fusing inside the tail end allows the 5,300lbs of high explosives to be detonated at the correct depth. More than one weapon might well have been needed to be dropped, the first to create a large path for a second - or more - to ensure destruction of any facilities. All would have to go through the same impact point.

As we just reported, Iran's Fordo nuclear facility has already been the target of Israeli strikes since hostilities between Israel and Iran began over a week ago.

Now, US President Donald Trump has reposted a message from an open-source intelligence account saying that "Fordow is gone".

Donald Trump has announced he will address the nation at 10pm local time (3am BST) after the US conducted strikes on three of Iran's nuclear sites.

"This is a historic moment for the United States of America, Israel, and the world," he posts on Truth Social.

He adds that "Iran must now agree to end this war".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Washington DC

In retrospect, Trump's return to Washington tonight was something of an indicator that something was afoot.

More often than not, he spends his weekends away in Florida or New Jersey, regardless of what's happening in the news.

Today, however, he flew back to the White House and landed at exactly 1801 EST (2201 GMT), with the White House telling reporters he walked straight to the Situation Room upon arriving.

Trump prides himself as someone who is unpredictable, and his two-week deadline appears to have been something of a ruse, perhaps intended to lull Iranian officials into believing they had time to talk their way out of it.

"I may do it, I may not do it," Trump told reporters earlier this week. "Nobody knows what I want to do."

He was right - and today's strike is indicative of the way he carries out his foreign policy, with only his inner most circle knowing exactly what he's planning.

Image source, Reuters

Situated about 60 miles (96km) south of the capital Tehran, the uranium enrichment site at Fordo is located in a mountainous region close to the city of Qom.

The underground facility is thought to consist of two main tunnels that house centrifuges used to enrich uranium, as well as a network of smaller tunnels.

Before Sunday's strike by the US, as announced by President Trump, Israel had been appealing to Washington for intervention as the US is the only military with the capability to hit it.

BBC Verify has this visual guide on Fordo.

Nomia Iqbal
North America correspondent

Ever since Israel launched its attack on Iran there’s been a “will he won’t he?” guessing game on if President Trump will join in on the strikes.

It’s been hugely controversial due to the concern of a further escalation in the Middle East, and another US intervention in the region. The kind of intervention that Donald Trump has long campaigned against.

Just two days ago he said he’d make his decision within two weeks, which lowered the temperature.

But it appears now almost out of the blue “successful strikes” have been carried out according to him.

This includes on Fordo - a US “bunker buster bomb” was needed to do that. As of yet we’ve not seen any actual footage - all we have to go by so far is his social media post.

B-2 bombers were involved in the US strikes on Iran, a US official said, according to the Reuters news agency.

As we reported earlier, US B-2 stealth bombers had reportedly been moved to the US island territory of Guam, prompting speculation that the aircraft could be involved in a US strike on Iran.

Donald Trump says the US has completed strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan.

"We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space," he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added that a "full payload of bombs" were dropped on Fordo and all planes were on their way back to the US.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
BBC Persian, World Service reporter

A London-based Persian-language news channel has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of arresting family members of one of its female presenters.

Iran International says the IRGC has detained the family of an unnamed presenter “to pressure her into ceasing work with the channel”.

The network said the presenter received a call from her father, who urged her to resign. Iranian officials were “dictating what her father should say”, the channel added.

In a statement, Iran International said that it “will not back down despite attempts to silence its voice”.

Tehran said in November 2022 that it would treat Iran International as a “terrorist entity”, following the channel’s coverage of anti-establishment protests.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has recently warned about a surge in threats against journalists working at Persian-language broadcasters based in London, namely Iran International and BBC Persian, along with their families who live in Iran.

Earlier this month the BBC accused Iran of escalating a campaign of intimidation against its Persian journalists. Tehran is yet to respond to the latest allegations.

The Iranian regime has previously been accused of conducting unlawful operations against journalists abroad. It has denied those allegations and accused the BBC of spreading false information to encourage its overthrow.

It is now after 02:00 in Israel and Iran. As we enter the tenth day of hostilities between the two nations, there seems to be little indication that an end to the conflict is in sight.

Israel said it had launched fresh strikes on southern and central Iran, targeting a "weapons depot" and "military infrastructure". Iranian media said, as a result, air defences were being engaged in southern and Israeli drones were being "monitored" and "destroyed".

Earlier, Israel said it had killed three senior Iranian commanders, including Saeed Izadi - described as being one of the architects of the 7 October attacks - and Quds Force commander Behnam Shahriyari.

The UN's nuclear watchdog confirmed Israel had hit the Isfahan facility in the centre of Iran, and the head of the agency released a statement saying the attack will have "no radiological consequences". BBC Verify identified fresh damage to several buildings at the site with satellite imagery.

The ongoing strikes in the region were accompanied with strong rhetoric, as Iran's president asserted his country's right to develop peaceful nuclear programmes, according to the country's official IRNA news agency.

Iran's foreign minister also warned of the consequences if the United States entered the conflict, saying it would be "very, very dangerous" while in Istanbul for talks with the Turkish president.

Stick with us as we continue to follow the latest developments.

The Israeli Air Force says it has intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle launched "from the east" towards Israel.

Sirens sounded after midnight in response to a "hostile aircraft infiltration" in the areas of Ramat Magshimim and Haspin, according to a post on X.

This comes after Iran announced that a new drone assault was under way on "strategic targets" in Israel.

Iran's military says it has launched a new drone attack on Israel.

IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini was quoted by state TV as saying the drones were headed towards "strategic targets throughout the regime's territory".

Naimeh Namjoo
BBC Persian

A British travel blogger and his family detail how they fled Iran just 24 hours after their arrival, as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified.

Nadia, who travelled to Tehran with her husband Irfan and their three-year-old son Zakariya, told BBC Persian that “they decided to leave Iran after witnessing missiles and hearing drones from their hotel balcony".

The family landed in Iran on 12 June but, by the following morning, they found themselves caught in the middle of the conflict.

They had only a few hours to explore the Iranian capital on Friday. Irfan said: “It was in the evening, when we were driving back to our hotel, that the bombing got worse."

In the early hours of Saturday, their tour guide offered to drive them to the nearest border with Turkey. A few hours later, they arrived at the Bazargan checkpoint. The family is now in a safe country.

Irfan said they had chosen to visit Iran based on recommendations from friends and their own previous positive travel experiences.

• As a reminder, the UK advises against all travel to Iran, external

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
BBC Persian, World Service reporter

Image source, Reuters/Maxar Technologies

Iran has said that a nuclear reactor which was targeted by an Israeli strike was going to be used for “health and medicine” purposes.

Israel said it bombed the Arak heavy water reactor in central Iran, which was under construction, on Thursday to stop it being used for "nuclear weapons development".

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, has now accused Israel of targeting a “centre that operates for radiopharmaceutical research with the products used in the fields of health and medicine”.

Eslami added that Iran “no longer trusts” the inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) because he says all of its inspections “have been used to espionage on behalf” of Israel.

Eslami had previously said that Tehran will pursue legal action against the IAEA for its "inaction" over Israel's targeting of Iranian nuclear sites.

He added that none of recent Israeli attacks have led to any radioactive leakage, therefore “there is no cause of public concern”.

Previously, the head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi said that Israel's strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities have led to some radiological leaks. There is currently “no danger to the public”, but Grossi said that “there remains a risk that this could still occur".

Max Matza
BBC News, Washington

Image source, Getty Images

The US military has sent American B-2 stealth bombers to the US island territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, as President Donald Trump continues to decide whether to join Israel in launching offensive air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

The large jets are considered to be the only aircraft capable of carrying the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000lb (13,608kg) bunker-busting bomb that experts say is required to destroy Iran's deep nuclear facility at Fordo.

US officials have not commented on whether the deployment is linked to the conflict in the Middle East.

The facility is thought to be buried around 100m below the surface, protected by reinforced concrete. Despite their overwhelming aerial superiority, Israel lacks the munitions to damage the facility, hence requiring US support.

Read more on the possible implications of the B-2 movements in our full article.

Air defences are being engaged in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas in response to Israeli strikes, Iranian media is reporting.

According to the Tasnim news agency, a media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Israeli drones were monitored, intercepted and destroyed.

A similar story has also been reported in Bandar Lengeh, a little way from Bander Abbas on Iran's southern coast.

The Israeli military says it has launched strikes on Iran's southern city of Bandar Abbas, targeting a "weapons depot" and sites for "unmanned aerial vehicles".

A little earlier the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was also targeting "fighter jets belonging to the Iranian Armed Forces" and "military infrastructure" in central Iran.

Video shared on social media shows explosions in the western Iranian town of Ahvaz.

Huge plumes of smoke are visible on the skyline, above large buildings, and local media reported explosions.

The Israeli military said it was conducting operations on "military infrastructure" in the area, which lies on the border with Iraq and is Iran's main oil-producing region.

The footage has been verified by our specialists who geo-located the area shown in the footage.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
BBC Persian, World Service reporter

Iran has arrested a German national accused of “spying in sensitive military and nuclear areas”, according to state TV Channel Two which aired a report on him yesterday.

He was described as a "Jewish German dual national and a spy", with the report showing him detained in the central Markazi Province. Officials alleged he had "dozens of instances of espionage and/or sabotage".

The report said he had entered Iran “under the disguise of a tourist” but alleged that he “had been filming sensitive areas across the country".

There has been a major escalation in arrests linked to Israel in Iran in recent days.

An unspecified number of people in several provinces including Markazi, Isfahan and Tehran have been detained on related charges since Israel’s attacks on Iran started.

The BBC cannot independently verify the allegations against these individuals.