Israel under missile attack, Iran says all options open after US strikes
JERUSALEM: Israel faced a missile attack on Sunday (Jun 22) as Iran said it reserved all options to defend itself after unprecedented US strikes that President Donald Trump said had "obliterated" its key nuclear facilities.
Hours after Trump dramatically escalated Middle East tensions by sending B-2 bombers to Iran, the Israeli military warned people to seek cover from a barrage that appeared heavier than the Iranian salvoes fired in the past few days.
"The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences," said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas, calling the US strikes a "grave violation" of the UN charter, international law and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people," Araqchi posted on X.
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said it would not allow development of its 'national industry' to be stopped, and an Iranian state television commentator said every US citizen or military member in the region would be legitimate targets.
Israel's ambulance service said at least 16 people were hurt in the morning barrage.
Air raid sirens sounded across most of the country, sending millions of people to safe rooms and bomb shelters as explosions rang out and missile interceptions were seen above Jerusalem and in other parts of the country.
It was not immediately clear how many missiles had pierced Israel's air defence systems, but police confirmed at least three impact sites in residential areas in central and northern Israel.
Video from Israel's commercial hub, Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa, further north, showed rescue teams combing through debris, apartments reduced to rubble, mangled cars along a street filled with debris and medics evacuating injured people from a row of blown-out houses.
Most airlines continued to avoid large parts of the Middle East after the US strikes, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, with traffic already skirting airspace in the region due to recent missile exchanges.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN FACES "PEACE OR TRAGEDY"
Trump, in a televised address to the US people, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called the strikes a "spectacular military success" that had taken out Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow.
He warned Tehran it would face more devastating attacks if it does not agree to peace.
After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran is the biggest foreign policy gamble of his two presidencies and one fraught with risks and unknowns.
The major escalation of armed conflict in the Middle East risks opening a new era of instability in the Middle East.
Trump said Iran's future held "either peace or tragedy," and there were many other targets that could be hit by the US military. "If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
The US contacted Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the US plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported.
Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity show that six "bunker-buster" bombs were dropped on the deep-underground Fordow facility, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. US B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Reuters had reported the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry the massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried beneath a mountain south of Tehran. Given its fortification, it will likely be days, if not longer, before the impact of the strikes is known.
An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed part of the Fordow site was attacked by "enemy airstrikes." However, Mohammad Manan Raisi, a lawmaker for Qom, near Fordow, told the semi-official Fars news agency the facility had not been seriously damaged.
A reporter from Iranian state media IRNA reporter said he had arrived near the Fordow site at 3am local time and saw smoke that "seems to be related to air defences". He quoted a nearby witness as reporting "six explosions were heard, but they said it wasn't very loud.'
DIPLOMATIC FAILURE
The UN nuclear watchdog said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes.
Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran's state broadcaster, said Iran had evacuated the three sites some time ago.
"The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots," he told the channel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his "bold decision", saying, "History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons."
Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched its attacks on Jun 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies.
Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have so far failed. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the US strikes a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security."
In the US, Democratic lawmakers and some from Trump's Republican Party have argued that he must receive permission from Congress before committing the US military to any combat against Iran.
At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed and 1,272 people injured, according to local authorities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
US strikes 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear ambitions, Pentagon chief says
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a briefing at the Pentagon, after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities, during the Israel-Iran conflict, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., June 22, 2025 in this still image taken from handout video. Reuters TV/U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a briefing at the Pentagon, after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities, during the Israel-Iran conflict, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., June 22, 2025 in this still image taken from handout video. Reuters TV/U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that U.S. military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities were an incredible and overwhelming success that have obliterated Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The U.S. strikes included 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft, in an operation the top U.S. general, General Dan Caine, said was named "Operation Midnight." The operation pushes the Middle East to the brink of a major new conflagration in a region already aflame for more than 20 months with wars in Gaza and Lebanon and a toppled dictator in Syria. "Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated," Hegseth told reporters in a briefing, adding that said the strikes did not target Iranian troops or people. "The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back. When this president speaks, the world should listen," Hegseth said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
US strikes on Iran nuclear sites are real-life test of hard power's limits
A combination picture shows satellite images over Fordow, before and after the U.S. struck the underground nuclear facility, near Qom, Iran, June 2, 2025 (L) and June 22, 2025. Planet Labs PBC via REUTERS VIENNA/PARIS - U.S. military strikes overnight in which President Donald Trump said Iran's main nuclear sites were "obliterated" will put to the test the widely held view that such attacks can delay a nuclear programme but not kill a determined push for atom bombs. As Iran's nuclear programme has expanded and become more sophisticated over the past two decades, many officials and nuclear experts have warned: You can destroy or disable a nuclear programme's physical infrastructure but it is very hard or impossible to eliminate the knowledge a country has acquired. Western powers including the United States have publicly suggested as much, complaining of the "irreversible knowledge gain" Iran has made by carrying out activities they object to. "Military strikes alone cannot destroy Iran's extensive nuclear knowledge," the Washington-based Arms Control Association said in a statement after the U.S. strikes with massive bunker-busting bombs on sites including Iran's two main underground enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow. "The strikes will set Iran's programme back, but at the cost of strengthening Tehran's resolve to reconstitute its sensitive nuclear activities, possibly prompting it to consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and possibly proceeding to weaponisation." Israel has also said it has killed Iranian nuclear scientists but, while little is known about the personnel side of Iran's nuclear programme, officials have said they are sceptical about that having a serious impact on Iran's nuclear knowledge, even if it might slow progress in the near term. The West says there is no civilian justification for Iran's enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade fissile purity. Iran says its nuclear objectives are solely peaceful and it has the right to enrich as much as it wants. Iran's nuclear programme has made rapid advances since Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers that placed strict limits on its atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief. After the U.S. withdrawal in 2018 and the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions, Iran pushed past and then far beyond the limits imposed by the deal on items like the purity to which it can enrich uranium and how much it can stockpile. URANIUM STOCK At least until Israel's first strikes against its enrichment installations on June 13, Iran was refining uranium to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% that is bomb-grade, and far higher than the 3.67% cap imposed by the 2015 deal, which Iran respected until the year after Trump pulled out. The last report on May 31 by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog that inspects Iran's nuclear facilities, showed Iran had enough uranium enriched to up to 60%, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. It has more at lower levels like 20% and 5%. The exact impact of Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and materials has yet to be determined. In addition to the enrichment sites, the U.S. struck Isfahan, where officials have said much of Iran's most highly enriched uranium stock was stored underground. One important open question is how much highly enriched uranium Iran still has and whether it is all accounted for. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow, the site producing the bulk of Iran's uranium refined to up to 60%, had been moved to an undisclosed location before the U.S. attack there. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state TV last weekend Iran would take measures to protect nuclear materials and equipment that would not be reported to the IAEA, and it would no longer cooperate with the IAEA as before. NORTH KOREA LOOMS LARGE The IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran since the first Israeli strikes nine days ago, but has said it is in contact with the Iranian authorities. What Iran will do next in terms of its nuclear programme is also unclear. Its threat to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty hints at a race for nuclear weapons, but Iran has maintained it has no intention of doing so. The only other country to announce its withdrawal from the NPT is North Korea in 2003. It expelled IAEA inspectors and went on to test nuclear weapons. "Our biggest concern is that we end up with a North Korea scenario whereby these strikes convince the Iranians that the only way to save the regime is to go for the bomb. Nobody is bombing North Korea now, are they?" a European official said. Even if inspections continue, because of Trump's withdrawal in 2018 Iran had already scrapped extra IAEA oversight provided for by the 2015 deal. That means the agency no longer knows how many centrifuges Iran has at undeclared locations. The IAEA says that while it cannot guarantee Iran's aims are entirely peaceful, it also has no credible indication of a coordinated nuclear weapons programme. The Israeli and now U.S. strikes have already raised fears among diplomats and other officials, however, that Iran will use those centrifuges to set up a secret enrichment site, since one could be built inside a relatively small and inconspicuous building like a warehouse. "It is quite possible that there are enrichment sites that we don't know about. Iran is a big country," a Western official said, while adding that Iran could also choose to bide its time. "In two years, if Iran were to start from scratch, they would only need a few months to reconstitute a new programme and to get back to where they were yesterday." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Senior Russian official says Trump has started new war on Iran that will strengthen Khamenei
FILE PHOTO: Russia's Security Council's Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting of the Council for Science and Education at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the Moscow region's city of Dubna, Russia June 13, 2024. Sputnik/Alexei Maishev/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Senior Russian official says Trump has started new war on Iran that will strengthen Khamenei MOSCOW - A senior Russian official said on Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump had started a new war by attacking Iran that would only strengthen Tehran's leaders by consolidating society around Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Kremlin, which has a strategic partnership with Iran and also maintains close links to Israel, had repeatedly cautioned Washington that U.S. strikes on Iran would plunge the entire region into the "abyss". "Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the U.S.," said Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, adding that "with this kind of success, Trump won't win the Nobel Peace Prize". "Iran's political regime has been preserved, and it is highly likely that it has become stronger," Medvedev said. "The people are consolidating around the spiritual leadership, even those who did not sympathise with it." Medvedev also said that Iran's nuclear infrastructure did not appear to be affected by the U.S. strikes, and that the U.S. was in danger of being drawn into a ground operation. President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, though the Kremlin chief last week refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Khamenei. Putin said that Israel had given Moscow assurances that Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran would not be hurt in air strikes. Russia's foreign ministry strongly condemned the U.S. attacks which it said had undermined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The United Nations Security Council must respond, Moscow said. "It is already obvious that a dangerous escalation has begun, fraught with further undermining of regional and global security," it said. "The risk of the conflict spreading in the Middle East, which is already gripped by multiple crises, has increased significantly." While Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for its war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year, their relationship since the 16th century, when Muscovy officially established relations with the Persian Empire, has at times been troubled. Inside Russia, there were calls for Russia to come to the aid of its partner and to supply Iran with the same support which Washington had given to Ukraine - including air defence systems, missiles and satellite intelligence. "It's time for us to help Tehran," said Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev. "And at the same time, to offer the United States and Iran diplomatic assistance in peace negotiations by appointing a special envoy for this. Two can play at this game." Jailed Russian nationalist Igor Girkin said that unless Russia supported Iran, the Islamic Republic would be bombed into the Stone Age by the United States and Israel and then plunged into chaos. "If Iran does not receive the necessary support from its allies, Russia and China, and very serious and significant support, then, most likely, within a month, its enemies will achieve this," Girkin said on Telegram. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
