FLASH
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Dramatic video released by CNN shows large explosions and smoke rising near Baharestan, south of Isfahan, Iran.
Footage shows bright orange sparks consistent with munitions exploding upon impact, as well as flaming debris falling from the sky.
A second video shows large columns of smoke rising from the area.
Since the start of the war, the US has carried out several strikes on Isfahan, a central city about 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of the capital Tehran. On Tuesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said US bombers carried out an attack targeting an ammunition depot near the city.
Isfahan is also home to a nuclear power plant that is believed to store most of Iran's highly enriched uranium reserves.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, during a historic speech from the White House, said that the objectives in Iran are nearing completion and called on allies for more engagement in the Strait of Hormuz.
Immediately after his speech, the price of oil jumped to $105 per barrel. While it remains unclear what the US "victory" specifically means, Iran has immediately denied Trump's claims of a ceasefire request, describing them as baseless.
What are Iran's nuclear objectives?
Iran's nuclear program is spread across several strategic sites, many of which are located in isolated or underground locations to withstand air attacks.
Natanz
Netanyahu said Israel had targeted Natanz as part of its attack. It is a complex at the heart of Iran's enrichment program, in a field bordered by mountains outside the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, south of Tehran. Natanz contains facilities including two enrichment plants: the large underground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) and the above-ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP).
The FEP was built for commercial-scale enrichment, capable of housing 50,000 centrifuges. Currently, about 16,000 centrifuges are installed there, of which about 13,000 are operational, refining uranium to 5 percent purity.
Fordoun
On the other side of Qom, Fordow is an enrichment site dug into a mountain and is therefore probably more protected from possible bombing than the FEP. The 2015 deal with the major powers did not allow Iran to enrich uranium at Fordow at all. It now has about 2,000 centrifuges operating there, most of them advanced IR-6 machines, of which up to 350 are enriching to 60 percent.
The United States, Britain and France announced in 2009 that Iran had been secretly building Fordow for years and had not informed the IAEA.
Isfahan
Iran has a large nuclear technology center on the outskirts of Isfahan, its second-largest city. It includes the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant and a uranium conversion plant that can process uranium into uranium hexafluoride that feeds into centrifuges. Diplomats say Iran also stores enriched uranium in Isfahan.
In Isfahan there is equipment to produce uranium metal, a process that is particularly sensitive to proliferation, as it could be used to build the core of a nuclear bomb.
Khondab
Iran has a partially constructed heavy water research reactor, originally called Arak and now Khondab. Heavy water reactors pose a proliferation risk because they can easily produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atomic bomb.
Under the 2015 deal, construction was halted, the reactor core was removed and filled with concrete to render it unusable. The reactor was to be redesigned “to minimize plutonium production and to prevent the production of weapons-grade plutonium in normal operation.” Iran has informed the IAEA that it plans to start operating the reactor in 2026.
Tehran Research Center
Iran's nuclear research facilities in Tehran include a research reactor.
Bushehr
Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, on the Gulf coast, uses Russian fuel that Russia takes back when it is spent, reducing the risk of proliferation.
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