US and Iran: What's happening?
The United States has launched military strikes in Iran, attacking three nuclear bases in the country.Speaking in a televised speech from the White House, US President Donald Trump called the operation a "spectacular military success" and warned that Iran should make peace or face "far greater" attacks.In response to the strikes, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said: "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences."
What's the background to this?
The US bombing of Iran's nuclear sites comes just over a week after Israel launched strikes on Iran.Since then Israel and Iran have continued to fire missiles at each other.Israel and the US have long been allies. Now President Trump has decided to support Israel by joining the attack on Iran.Trump said American warplanes attacked three nuclear sites in Iran - including an underground nuclear site called Fordo.Iran has always said its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes like electricity.Following the strikes President Trump said: "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."
What has been the reaction?
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described Iran's nuclear programme as "a grave threat to international security"."Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat," Starmer added.UK Foreign Minister David Lammy says "the UK did not participate in these strikes" and urged Iran to "show restraint and reach a diplomatic solution to end the crisis", which means through peaceful discussion.The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:"There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace."Since the US bombing, missile attacks between Israel and Iran have continued.
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The Sun
38 minutes ago
- The Sun
US might have killed any immediate threat of an Iranian nuke but here's why it may not have won the war yet
PRESIDENT Donald Trump's surprise attack on Iran's three main nuclear sites is a dramatic escalation of the Middle East crisis. By neutralising the places where it was enriching uranium to A-bomb grade, the Americans have almost certainly killed any immediate threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon. 3 3 3 But Washington has not necessarily won the war yet. Israel's extraordinary decapitation strikes on military leaders and nuclear scientists ten days ago battered the Islamic Republic but it did not back down. Even taking out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself would not necessarily collapse the regime or make Iran give in. America can do vastly more harm to the Iranians than Israel, but will they back off? More importantly, could Iran's leaders survive giving in to Trump's demand they abandon any nuclear enrichment project to Washington's satisfaction? Cutting their losses by accepting Trump's demands would be wisest for the sake of 90million ordinary Iranians. Remember, Trump had ominously ordered the ten million people of the capital, Tehran, to evacuate the city for their own safety. But Iran's leaders are drenched in the cult of martyrdom. Suicide bombing was promoted by the ayatollahs' regime from the beginning. Their proxies in Lebanon blew up 242 US Marines there in 1983 with the first 'spectacular' suicide truck bomb. Watch Trump hail 'very successful' bombing on Iran's nuke bases Next month in their religious calendar is Muharram, which is when Iran's Shiites celebrate what cynical secular Westerners regard as past futile sacrifices. So making the case for cutting losses goes against the grain. Even if Khamenei and the official Iran government go for a deal with Trump, they could face a backlash from hardline fanatics. They could argue America and Israel are never going to risk a ground invasion. Trump's supporters won't accept body bags coming back from Iran as they did from Afghanistan and Iraq for years for nothing. They can sit out an air war and absorb the bombs and casualties, they hope. And they can shoot and hang any Iranians who protest. As the Revolutionary Guards controlling Iran's missiles showed immediately after the American air strikes, they can hit back hard — at least against Israel. They may be shrewd enough to avoid US targets so Trump won't retaliate against Iran, but hit Washington's allies. Israel was already in their sights and, however effective its defences, even a handful of missiles getting in paralyses a port like Haifa or the main airport, Ben Gurion Israel is losing money hand over fist, if mercifully few lives. The Iranians would be wise to find a way to calm things rather than stirring up more death and destruction. Mark Almond Let's not ignore that Britain could find itself in the line of fire. Long before the current crisis, Iranian propaganda demonised us as the Little Satan scurrying along beside the American Great Satan. So when Keir Starmer voiced the British government's support for the US and Israel's right to nullify the Iranian nuclear threat, that will have been 'proof' enough for Iran's fanatical missile controllers. Only the day before Trump's salvo of bunker busters and cruise missiles on Iran, a man was arrested for allegedly scouting the British base at Akrotiri, apparently as a target for a potential terrorist attack. Although a British passport holder, he is reported to be an ethnic Azeri, the second-biggest part of Iran's population mix. The Ayatollah himself is half-Azeri through his mother. Iran could have 'sleeper cells' of similar saboteurs waiting for the signal to go into action against Britain and other US allies — or even inside the US itself. The Iranians would be wise to find a way to calm things rather than stirring up more death and destruction. But that was true long before this war broke out.
Sky News
40 minutes ago
- Sky News
Israel-Iran live: Trump calls to 'make Iran great again' - as Tehran urges UN over 'historic test'
Donald Trump has asked why there would not be a "regime change" in Iran following US strikes, calling to "make Iran great again". Meanwhile, Iran's UN envoy says the current situation provides a "historic test" for the body. Watch and follow the latest below.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Iran accuses US of 'waging war' under 'absurd pretext' after strikes on nuclear sites
Update: Date: 22:55 BST Title: World should thank Trump, Israeli representative at UN says Content: Following the comments from the Iranian representative at the UN Security Council, we heard from Israel's Danny Denon - who says the world should be thanking Donald Trump. "The entire world should say on record here today thank you," Danny Danon says. "Thank you to Donald Trump for acting when so many hesitated." He says that some at the UN have "denounced" the US and Israel, but queries "where were you when Iran enriched uranium far beyond the point of civilian usage, when it built a fortress beneath a mountain to prepare for our extermination?" He says that it cannot be ignored that "diplomacy was tried" but says Iran "turned negotiation into theatre" and used it as "camouflage" to buy time to build missiles and enrich uranium. Danon continues, saying that Iran negotiated agreements "it never intended to keep". "The free world gave it every chance," he says, and that the cost of inaction would have been "a death sentence". Update: Date: 22:54 BST Title: US 'waged a war under absurd pretext' - Iranian representative at UN Content: Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani Iran's representative to the UN Security Council has accused the US of having "waged a war" against Iran "under a fabricated and absurd pretext". Amir Saeid Iravani says Iran reserves the right "to defend itself" against "blatant US aggression" before adding that the timing, nature and scale of "Iran's proportionate response" will be decided by its armed forces. In a lengthy statement, Iravani also accuses Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pulling America into "another costly, baseless war" and says the actions by the US and Israel are a "flagrant breach of international law". The Iranian representative says Israel has promoted the "deceitful and false narrative" his country was "on the cusp of acquiring a nuclear weapon". He continues: "The silence, double standards, and complicity of international organisations and some Western countries, including France and the UK, are equally reprehensible." Amir Saeid Iravani ends his address by calling on the council to hold the US and Israel "fully accountable". Update: Date: 22:52 BST Title: A day after strikes, Iran accuses US of 'waging war' under 'absurd pretext' Content: A satellite image shows damage at the Isfahan nuclear site after US airstrikes Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. It's been almost 24 hours since the United States carried out strikes on three of Iran's nuclear sites - Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. On Sunday, in comments at the UN Security Council in New York, Iran accused the US of "waging war" "under an absurd pretext". At the same time, US President Donald Trump hinted at regime change in Iran - despite the US, and Israel, saying the aim of their strikes was to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon. We'll bring you the latest developments over the course of the day, so stay with us. In the meantime, if you need a recap of the past 48 hours, you can get it in our previous page.
