“Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding: “Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process.”

The US leader regularly uses the term “nuclear dust” to refer to Iran’s stock of enriched uranium, which the US accuses Iran of hoarding in order to make an atomic bomb.

But he has also sometimes used it to refer to material left from US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June last year.

The 79-year-old president maintains Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium would ultimately be transferred to US territory, despite Iran’s foreign ministry denying any such plans.

The US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb 28 to remove what Israel described as “the existential threat” posed by the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

Israeli officials say Tehran had stepped up efforts to acquire an atomic weapon since the end of the 12-day war last June, which was launched by Israel and included US bombings of three nuclear facilities, including an enrichment plant.