World awaits Iranian response after U.S. hits nuclear sites
The world braced on Sunday for Iran's response after the U.S. attacked key Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
Iran vowed to defend itself a day after the U.S. dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs onto the mountain above Iran's Fordo nuclear site while American leaders urged Tehran to stand down and pockets of anti-war protesters emerged in U.S. cities.
In a post to the Truth Social platform on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the issue of regime change in Iran. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" he wrote.
Iran and Israel continued to trade volleys of missile attacks. An Israeli military spokesperson said Israeli fighter jets had struck military targets in western Iran. Earlier, Iran fired missiles that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned of a "heightened threat environment" in America, citing the possibility of cyber attacks or targeted violence. Law enforcement in major U.S. cities stepped up patrols and deployed additional resources to religious, cultural and diplomatic sites.
An organization that monitors flight safety risks warned that the U.S. strikes could lead to threats against American operators in the region and some flights were canceled on Sunday and Monday.
Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States — either by targeting U.S. bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies — but that may not hold.
Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said.
"The U.S. showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force," he said.
Trump, in a televised address, called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated."
But his own officials gave more nuanced assessments. With the exception of satellite photographs appearing to show craters on the mountain above Iran's subterranean plant at Fordo, there has been no public accounting of the damage.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the U.S. strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director general, told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground.
A senior Iranian source said that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordo had been moved elsewhere before the attack.
People attend a protest following U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, in Tehran on Sunday, |
Arash Khamooshi / The New York Times
Trump, who veered between offering to end the war with diplomacy or to join it before ultimately moving ahead with the biggest foreign policy gamble of his career, called on Iran to forgo any retaliation. He said the government "must now make peace" or "future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Washington was not at war with Iran but with its nuclear program, adding this had been pushed back by a very long time due to the U.S. intervention.
In a step towards what is widely seen as Iran's most effective threat to hurt the West, its parliament approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly a quarter of global oil shipments pass through the narrow waters that Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's Press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Attempting to choke off Gulf oil by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite conflict with the U.S. Navy's massive Fifth Fleet, based in the Gulf and tasked with keeping the strait open.
Oil is likely to rise by $3-5 per barrel when trading resumes on Sunday evening after the U.S. attacked Iran at the weekend, market analysts said, with gains expected to accelerate only if Iran retaliates hard and causes a major oil supply disruption.
Security experts have long warned a weakened Iran could also find other unconventional ways to strike back, such as bombings or cyberattacks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS's "Face the Nation" that there were no other planned military operations against Iran "unless they mess around."
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the U.S. strikes as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council the U.S. bombings in Iran marked a perilous turn in the region and urged a halt to fighting and return to negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli officials, who began the hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, have increasingly spoken of their ambition to topple the hard-line Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since 1979.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that Israel was very close to meeting its goals of removing the threats of ballistic missiles and the nuclear program in Iran.
U.S. officials, many of whom witnessed Republican President George W. Bush's popularity collapse following his disastrous intervention in Iraq in 2003, have stressed that they were not working to overthrow Iran's government.
"This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, calling the mission "a precision operation" targeting Iran's nuclear program.
Anti-war activists organized demonstrations on Sunday in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities, with signs carrying messages such as "hands off Iran."
Meanwhile, some Iranians described their fear at the prospect of an enlarged conflict involving the U.S.
"Our future is dark. We have nowhere to go — it's like living in a horror movie," Bita, 36, a teacher from the central city of Kashan, said before the phone line was cut.
Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10 million people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment.
Iranian authorities say more than 400 people have been killed since Israel's attacks began, mostly civilians. Israel's bombardment has scythed through much of Iran's military leadership with strikes targeted at bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept.
Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days.
Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people to safe rooms.
In Tel Aviv, Aviad Chernovsky, 40, emerged from a bomb shelter to find his house had been destroyed in a direct hit. "It's not easy to live now in Israel (right now), but we are very strong. We know that we will win,' he said.
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