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Here’s where things stand on Sunday 22 June 2025:
- US President Donald Trump says American forces have conducted “very successful” strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan and that all US planes are now out of Iranian airspace.
- Israel’s attacks on Iran continue, with Israeli forces targeting military facilities and nuclear sites. Iran responds by launching dozens of drones towards Israel.
- Trump has publicly rebuked his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, saying she was wrong to state there was no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
- Iran says more than 400 people have been killed and at least 3,056 others wounded since Israel launched its attack on June 13. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed in Iranian strikes.
Here’s what Trump said
The US president gave a brief address from the White House, lasting about three minutes. Here were the key takeaways:
- Trump described the attacks as a “spectacular military success”, claiming Iran’s nuclear facilities have been “completely and totally obliterated”.
- He said that Iran “must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier”.
- He added there are “many targets left…if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill”.
- “This cannot continue,” Trump said. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”
- Israel loomed large, with Trump thanking and congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He added the US and Israel “worked as a team” and have “gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel”.
- Despite Trump vowing to avoid US military intervention abroad, he framed the attack as in line with the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani during his first term.
- Trump said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, will hold a press conference at 8am local on Sunday (12 GMT).
Iranian atomic energy body says no contamination recorded
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said radiation system data and field surveys do not show signs of contamination or danger to residents near the sites of Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
“Announcement from the Nuclear Safety System Center. Following the illegal US attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites, field surveys and radiation systems data showed: No contamination recorded,” the organisation said in a social media post.
“There is no danger to residents around these sites. Safety is in a stable state.”
‘Iranian allies and proxies may not wait for attack order from Tehran’
Shahram Akbarzadeh, the director of the Middle East Studies Forum at Deakin University in Australia, says there is a “very real concern” of regional war following the US strikes.
He told Al Jazeera that, while Iran has made it clear that it has a right to respond, its allies in the region may not wait for official orders.
“There are so many Iranian allies and proxies in the region who may not wait for an attack order from Tehran, who may take it upon themselves to hit at US assets in the region,” he said.
“And there are plenty of US assets in region,” he said.
Fordow ‘has not been seriously damaged’, says Iranian MP
Manan Raisi, who represents the Qom area where Fordow is located, says the attack on the underground nuclear site was “superficial”.
“Based on accurate information, I state that contrary to the claims of the lying US president, the Fordow nuclear facility has not been seriously damaged and most of what was damaged was only on the ground, which can be restored,” Raisi said, according to Tasnim news agency.
He also echoed earlier assessments that there have been no detected leakage of radioactive material after the US strikes.
Trump ‘recklessly’ started war in support of Israel, think tank says
DAWN, a US-based group founded by slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which promotes democracy and the rule of law in the Middle East, has said that Trump’s decision to attack Iran is illegal and betrays his promise to keep the US out of new wars.
“Trump’s unprovoked and unauthorised attacks on Iran not only violate international law but the US Constitution, which grants only Congress the right to declare war,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director.
“Trump has recklessly launched a war that harms American interests in service of Israeli demands, and broken his promise to the American people to put America first.”
Iran says official experts will report on details of attack
IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, says that locals “did not feel any signs of a major explosion” after the US attack on Fordow.
“Conditions in the area were completely normal,” the agency said. “Further details of the incident will be reported by official experts.”
Trump has called the strikes a “spectacular success”, but there has been no independent confirmation of their impact.
Iranian officials have also suggested that the enriched uranium at the underground facility had already been moved from the site.
It is not clear how the attacks will affect the Iranian nuclear programme.
Trump says US has erased threat to Israel
We heard the US president’s justifications for launching the attacks on Iran.
But I don’t think it’s going to sit well with a lot of his critics, or a lot of his supporters, given the fact that he did not say anywhere that the US was under imminent threat, which would have made this legal under the US Constitution.
Instead, the US president laid out the reasoning for taking these strikes, saying that Iran was the bully of the Middle East, and that they have been chanting, “Death to America”. But, I have to note here that this does not make Iran an imminent threat to the US.
Trump also said that a lot of people died as a result of Iran’s hate, but again, not specifying if those were Americans.
He also indicated that there are no other strikes that are planned currently, but threatened Iran that if it does not come back to the negotiating table, if it does not sign off on an agreement to end its nuclear programme, that there will be further attacks, and he says they will be far greater and a lot easier.
Now, the other thing that the US president said is that the US has erased this threat to Israel. But he did not say, “this threat to the United States”. That is not going to sit well with a lot of Americans who believe that Israel has now dragged the US into a vulnerability that could result in a broader escalation in the Middle East, that could involve putting American troops at risk and drawing even further resources paid by the American taxpayers.
Iran says ‘no danger’ to Iranians living near Fordow
The Crisis Management Headquarters in the province of Qom, where Fordow is located, has issued a statement saying that “there is no danger to the people of Qom and the surrounding area”.
The statement, carried by the IRNA news agency, comes after Trump said Iran’s nuclear sites have been “obliterated”.
Earlier, another official said Fordow has “long been evacuated and has not suffered any irreversible damage”.
Israeli foreign minister heaps praise on Trump, Netanyahu
Gideon Saar says the US president “wrote his name in letters of gold in the history books” after his attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Saar also credited Netanyahu for initiating the assault against Iran, lauding what he called the prime minister’s “extraordinary leadership”.
The comments from the US and Israel suggest that both governments have been in lockstep in their attacks on Iran, which critics say have been unprovoked.
Democratic leader says risk of war has ‘dramatically increased’
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said that Trump did not seek congressional authorisation for the strikes and will bear full responsibility for “any adverse consequences”.
“Donald Trump promised to bring peace to the Middle East. He has failed to deliver on that promise. The risk of war has now dramatically increased, and I pray for the safety of our troops in the region who have been put in harm’s way,” Jeffries said in a statement, adding that Trump “misled the country about his intentions”.
“Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action,” he said.
Trump again promises ‘far greater’ attacks if Iran retaliates
The US president says that any retaliation from Iran will be met with a strong response.
“ANY RETALIATION BY IRAN AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE MET WITH FORCE FAR GREATER THAN WHAT WAS WITNESSED TONIGHT,” Trump said on his social media website, Truth Social.
Iran official says Fordow ‘evacuated, has not suffered irreversible damage’
Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, says Iran had been anticipating the US attack on Fordow.
“The site has long been evacuated and has not suffered any irreversible damage in the attack,” Mohammadi wrote in a social media post.
“Two things are certain: First, knowledge cannot be bombed, and second, the gambler will lose this time.”
Will Iran heed Trump’s call to stand down?
In his brief remarks after striking Iran’s nuclear sites, Trump stressed that it is time for “peace”, threatening Iran with further attacks if Tehran responds to the US assault.
But it will be difficult for Iran to absorb such a massive blow. The credibility of the Iranian government, which has been threatening an enormous response to any American attack, is at stake.
There is also no guarantee that if Iran does not respond, Israel will stop its attacks to bring down the Iranian ruling system, or that the US will not join in again.
Iran may opt to go for a contained counter-strike, akin to the missile attack on a base housing US troops in Iraq after the killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
But that, too, carries a risk of further escalation, especially with Trump having already changed the rules of engagement by launching strikes inside Iran.
‘The American people do not want another forever war’
We have more reaction from Democratic legislators on the US attacks on Iran.
Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman, says Trump’s ordering of strikes on Iran without the approval of lawmakers is a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution.
“The American people do not want another forever war. We have seen where decades of endless war in the Middle East gets us—all based on the lie of ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ We are not falling for it again,” she said in a statement.
“Instead of listening to the American people, Trump is listening to War Criminal Netanyahu, who lied about Iraq and is lying once again about Iran. Congress must act immediately to exert its war powers and stop this unconstitutional act of war.”
Houthis say US ‘must bear the consequences’
Hezam al-Asad, a member of the Yemeni group’s political bureau, has issued a brief warning to the US in a social media post.
“Washington must bear the consequences,” he said.
‘A lot of us feel really played by Trump’
Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), says the US strikes on Iran underscore that Trump’s pledge to avoid military intervention in foreign wars, dubbed “America First”, was false.
“I think on the one hand, a lot of us feel really played by Donald Trump. We should have known from his first term what his instincts were, and we should have tried to box him in. But I don’t know what more we could have done,” said Abdi, whose organisation has lobbied for diplomacy with Tehran.
“Now he has taken a dramatic, provocative step. I don’t think he understands and I don’t think he has a plan for if Iran responds,” he said.
“How is he going to keep this from being something that does not have a very big cost for him, a big cost for the country?
“I don’t know that he has considered those possibilities, and he has now rolled the dice, and he’s going to see what the Iranians do,” Abdi said.
UN chief expresses grave alarm at US attacks on Iran
Antonio Guterres is describing the US attacks on Iran as a “dangerous escalation”, warning that the conflict in the Middle East could quickly get “out of control”.
“I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today. This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security,” he said in a social media post.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world. I call on Member States to de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law. At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.”
Trump issues more threats to Iran
“There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” Trump said.
“Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most legal, but if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill.”
Trump thanks Netanyahu
The US president says he and the Israeli prime minister worked as a team.
“I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said. “We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.”
Trump says Iran strikes were a ‘spectacular military success’
The US president has said the objective of the recent attacks was to stop Iran’s “nuclear enrichment capacity and put a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror”.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” he said.
Trump begins address to nation
We will bring you the US president’s comments shortly.
Iran’s atomic agency condemns attacks on Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan
The Iranian Atomic Energy Organization says the nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan were “attacked by enemies of [Iran] in a barbaric act that violated international law, especially the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty”.
It said the attacks are taking place amid “indifference and even the complicity” of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It added” “The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development path of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped.”
Netanyahu says US attacks create a ‘pivot of history’
More from the Israeli prime minister.
Netanyahu said Trump’s “leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace”.
He thanked Trump on behalf of the Israeli people and said: “President Trump and I often say, ‘Peace through strength’. First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength.”
Netanyahu congratulates Trump on ‘bold decision’
The Israeli prime minister has released a video praising Trump’s decision to attack Iran, stating that it will “change history”.
“Congratulations, President Trump. Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history,” he said.
“In Operation Rising Lion, Israel has done truly amazing things. But in tonight’s action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on earth could do. History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
US action against Iran takes war to ‘unprecedented level’
This is the very early hours of morning and we are closely following the developments. So far, we don’t have any footage coming out, we don’t have any official statements from top Iranian officials or politicians, or others.
But we now have reports about this in different media outlets, including the official media outlets, these state news agencies.
They are all covering the story. But we don’t have that many details.
But speaking of the context, we know that, previously, different Iranian officials have said that if the US decides to get involved in this already intricate situation, that runs a big risk.
And that big risk, according to Iranian officials, is to bring the war to a next, unprecedented level, which means that it is not going to be limited to Iran and Israel. Iranian officials previously said that if US intervention happens, that’s going to take the war into a regional context, with the possibility of US bases in neighbouring countries being targeted.
Trump’s attacks could set region ablaze
While it remains unclear if and how Iran will respond to the US attacks, the conflict could quickly spiral to engulf the entire region.
Iran could attack US bases and interests across the Gulf, while Iraqi groups allied with Tehran may also get involved in the fighting, destablising the country that is seeing some relative calm after decades of bloodshed since the 2003 American invasion.
In Yemen, the Houthis have already said that they would start targeting US ships if Iran is attacked, renewing the hostilities after a brief ceasefire with Washington.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been quiet, but last week, it warned that it may act in support of Iran in ways that it sees “appropriate”.
Any military involvement by the group risks re-igniting the devastating war with Israel that destroyed large parts of Lebanon and displaced tens of thousands of people in northern Israel last year.
Moreover, if Iran succeeds in shutting down the Strait of Hormuz through which 20 percent of the world’s oil flows, the move could be a major blow to the global economy and energy-exporting countries in the Gulf.
Israeli strikes have already killed hundreds of Iranian civilians. US involvement is all but certain to bring more devastating attacks that will kill more people.
Iran official confirms attacks on Natanz, Isfahan
Earlier, the semi-official Tasnim news agency confirmed the US attack on the Fordow nuclear site.
Now, the official IRNA news agency is confirming the attacks on Natanz and Isfahan.
It cited Akbar Salehi, an aide to the governor of Isfahan as sating: “We witnessed attacks near the nuclear centers of Isfahan and Natanz.”
Salehi said several explosions were heard in Isfahan and Natanz.
New York deploying police to ‘religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites’
In a post on X, the New York City Police Department says it is “tracking the situation unfolding in Iran”.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we’re deploying additional resources to religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across NYC and coordinating with our federal partners,” said the department, which serves the city of more than 8 million residents.
“We’ll continue to monitor for any potential impact to NYC,” it added.
Bernie Sanders slams Trump’s strikes on Iran as ‘grossly unconstitutional’
An adviser for the leftist senator has shared footage of him informing a crowd at an event in the city of Tulsa of the US attacks on Iran.
The crowd yells in anger and chants, “No more war”.
“I agree. And I want to tell you something: not only is this news that I’ve just heard alarming, that all of you have just heard, but it is so grossly unconstitutional,” Sanders says.
“All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the US Congress. The president does not have the right.”
Israel in ‘full coordination’ with US during attack on Iran: Report
Israeli public broadcaster Kan is citing an anonymous Israeli official as saying that Israel was “in full coordination with the US” during its attacks on Iran.
Democratic leaders quiet on Trump’s strikes
As a handful of progressive US lawmakers condemn Trump’s decision to attack Iran, the primary congressional leaders of the Democratic Party have yet to issue statements on the unprovoked US strikes.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer, who lead the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively, have yet to issue statements on the attacks.
Both are outspoken supporters of Israel and have taken a hawkish stance on Iran.
In a statement on Friday, Jeffries said that Iran could not become “nuclear-capable” and that Israel has a “right to defend itself”, but noted that only the US Congress has the right to declare war.
A recent poll found that 65 percent of people who identified with the Democratic Party are opposed to US involvement in Israel’s war against Iran, with just 15 percent in favour.
Senate majority leader says US attack ensures ‘nuclear weapon remains out of reach’
US Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that he stands by Trump’s decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“The regime in Iran, which has committed itself to bringing ‘death to America’ and wiping Israel off the map, has rejected all diplomatic pathways to peace,” Thune, the Republican representative for South Dakota, said in a post on X.
“As we take action tonight to ensure a nuclear weapon remains out of reach for Iran, I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel in harm’s way.”
Republican leader Mike Johnson hails ‘decisive action’ from Trump
House Speaker Mike Johnson, one of the most powerful Republican officials in the country, has said that Trump’s unprovoked attacks on Iran show his commitment to an “America First” foreign policy.
Recent polls have found that a large majority of US voters, including the majority of Republicans, do not believe the US should get involved in Israel’s war with Iran.
“The military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says,” Johnson said in a social media post.
“The President’s decisive action prevents the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet. This is America First policy in action,” he added.
‘This is not Constitutional’: Republican legislator
Thomas Massie, who has been leading a legislative effort to curb Trump’s ability to attack Iran without the approval of Congress, says the strikes violate the US Constitution, which gives lawmakers the authority over war decisions.
Iran official says part of Fordow attacked in ‘enemy’ air strikes
The Iranian Tasnim news agency is citing an official in Qom as saying that part of the Fordow nuclear site has come under attack.
“Hours ago, after Qom’s air defenses were activated and hostile targets were identified, part of the Fordow nuclear site was attacked by enemy airstrikes,” Morteza Heydari, a spokesman for the Qom Provincial Crisis Management Headquarters, was quoted as saying.
US legislator says Trump struck Iran without Congress authorisation
Ro Khanna from the Democratic Party says the US Congress must immediately convene to vote on a bill that would affirm the exclusive right of Congress to declare war.
“Trump struck Iran without any authorization of Congress,” he said in a social media post.
“We need to immediately return to DC and vote on Representative Thomas Massie and my War Powers Resolution to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”
What’s the significance of the three sites the US has attacked?
We haven’t had any confirmation or reaction from Iranian officials yet.
But Iran’s position has been very clear. It has said that if the US takes part in this military campaign alongside Israel, the Iranians will consider US troops and bases in the region as legitimate targets for attack.
There are about 19 US bases in the Middle East, which are home to about 40,000 US troops, and the Iranians have said that these troops will not be safe if the US joins this conflict.
I also want to point out that the three locations the US has bombed are significant in Iran’s nuclear programme.
The facilities at Fordow and Natanz – these are the only two nuclear facilities in which Iran has been enriching uranium at 60 percent levels. And in Isfahan, also a facility that Iran uses to convert uranium.
According to an IAEA report from 2022, 90 percent of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is stored at this facility in Isfahan. So these are critical sites within the broader picture of Iran’s nuclear programme.
There are six nuclear facilities in Iran, and the three that the US has targeted are a critical part of the whole programme.
No radioactive material at the targeted sites: Iranian state media
The IRNA news agency quotes an official with the country’s public broadcaster as saying: “There are no materials in these three nuclear sites that cause radiation.”
The comment suggests that Iranian authorities may have removed enriched uranium from the facilities before they were bombed.
Ali Khamenei reiterates previous warning to US
The Iranian supreme leader’s Telegram account has re-shared televised comments by Khamenei from Wednesday, in which he said that the US would be entering the Iran-Israel conflict “to its own detriment”.
“The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm Iran will encounter,” Khamenei says in the video.
‘Too soon to tell’ whether this will be a one-off strike
Bill Courtney, a senior fellow at the US-based think tank the RAND Corporation, says that it remains to be seen whether these US strikes will be followed by further attacks on Iran.
“It’s too soon to tell. Partly, it will depend on whether Fordow was fully penetrated. Each B-2 bomber flying from Diego Garcia [a joint US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean] could carry two of these 30,000-pound [13,600kg] massive ordnance penetrators,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Fordow would have required more than one or two, probably, to be fully destroyed. So we’ll have to see what is the battle damage assessment from this strike on Fordow, and that could have something to do with whether the US continues a bombing effort.”
US Senator Graham says bombing was ‘the right call’
United States Senator Lindsey Graham has taken to social media to praise Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear facilities.
“Good. This was the right call. The regime deserves it,” Graham posted on X. “To my fellow citizens: We have the best Air Force in the world. It makes me so proud.”
“Fly, Fight, Win.”
Israel has been seeking US involvement in war with Iran
We aren’t getting much from Israeli officials just yet since it is late, around three in the morning local time, but let’s get some background and some context.
Since Israel decided to attack Iran nine days ago, they have been saying that they do want the Americans to get involved in this. This is what was being pushed in the Israeli media, there were banners that were being put up across places in Israel, it’s unclear by who, calling for President Trump to “finish the job”.
So it’s important to note also that within the last day reports have emerged of Israeli officials having a call with people in the Trump administration, but not Trump himself, that Israel was growing impatient with the US not deciding if they were going to get involved or not, that they didn’t want to wait for this two-week deadline that President Trump had previously given.
Ex-Israeli defence minister praises US strikes
Yoav Gallant calls the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities a “bold decision” by the US president.
“The world is now a safer place,” Gallant, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for suspected war crimes in Gaza, said in a social media post.
Houthi official says striking nuclear facilities is ‘beginning’ of war
Mohamed al-Farah, a member of the Yemeni group’s political bureau, says it is clear that Trump wants the hostilities to be quick and for the war to end.
“Destroying a nuclear facility here and there is not the end of the war but its beginning,” al-Farah said in a statement. “The time of hit and run is gone.”
Hours earlier, the Houthis threatened to attack US ships in the Red Sea if Trump joins Israel in attacking Iran.
Trump acting on guidance that US strikes would ‘not allow for escalation’
The president has been, for the last few days, convening his national security team in the Situation Room.
And what he was asking, according to my sources, is if it was possible to strike these facilities, to eradicate the nuclear programme, and not draw the United States forces into a broader conflict.
Now, you could argue that there is different thinking on this – some people say this is going to draw the US into a broader conflict.
But what he was advised is that this could be an effective single-strike operation, that this would allow for the dismantling of the programme and would still not allow for any escalation.
So, based on that guidance, we could assume this is a one-off. But it all depends on how the allies of Iran will react.
We know that they have strong alliances with China, with Russia, and we also know that there was a careful warning that was given to the United States in advance of these strikes, and that was, if you assist Israel, there will be a price to pay.
So Donald Trump has been advised that, as commander-in-chief, this will not lead to escalation.
That is the guidance he’s acted on.
But he knows there is a chance that there could be an escalation as a result of his action.
Trump’s strikes risk bringing US to ‘endless and deadly war’: Democrat
In one of the first responses to the attack by a Democratic member of Congress, Sara Jacobs says: “Trump’s strikes against Iran are not only unconstitutional, but an escalation that risks bringing the U.S. into another endless and deadly war.”
Trump to deliver speech after strikes on Iran
The US president says he will deliver an address to the nation at 10pm local time in Washington, DC (02:00 GMT).
Trump reiterated in a social media post that “IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR”.
Trump says ‘TIME FOR PEACE’, but Iran has promised to respond
The US president suggested in his announcement of the strikes that Iran should stand down to end the hostilities after its nuclear sites have been attacked.
But Iranian officials have been pledging a harsh retaliation against any US attack over the past few weeks.
Threats included strikes against US bases and interests in the region and closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the oil flows.
Trump shares post saying Fordow is ‘gone’
The US president shared a post from an open-source intelligence account stating that the heavily-fortified Fordow nuclear facility is “gone”.
Trump has been known to share information from unverified and frequently inaccurate sources on his social media account.
‘Moment of uncertainty’ for world as US joins Israel’s attacks on Iran
Trump’a announcement shows to the world that the United States has officially joined a new, dangerous phase of this war.
It’s notable that Trump, just a few days ago, had given a time window of two weeks for Iran to come back to the negotiating table for a diplomatic solution.
Well, obviously only a few days have passed.
And then today, we saw that scrambling of US military assets, and we are seeing that Trump has indeed issued this strike. He says that it was successful and that now is the time for peace. Certainly, that has yet to be proven to be true.
Everything depends now on how Iran will respond.
There have been many people concerned that such an action as has just been taken by the US military would do the very opposite. So, what will the next step be? Will there be further escalation? Could there be still room for negotiation? Some experts say Tehran might come to the table after all, even after all this, but this is a stark moment of uncertainty for the world, as we have just learned that the US has now bombed directly Iran.
Trump did not seek Congress approval for strikes
The US Constitution gives lawmakers the power to declare war and authorise military activity. But Trump did not seek the approval of Congress before striking Iran.
In the Senate and House of Representatives, lawmakers from both major parties had put forward legislation to compel Trump to go to Congress before attacking Iran’s nuclear site. But Trump preempted the votes on the bills.
Lack of congressional authorisation will likely be a major talking point in US politics, especially if a broader war breaks out.
Trump says US forces have attacked Iran
The president says in a social media post that the US has conducted “very successful” strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, and that all planes are now out of Iranian airspace.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. All planes are now outside of Iran air space,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
A recap of recent developments
- Israel and Iran continue to trade attacks, with the Israeli military saying it is targeting drone storage sites and a weapons facility in Iran, while Iranian projectiles trigger air raid sirens in northern Israel.
- The Israeli military says it has assassinated a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Saeed Izadi, in the city of Qom. Israel accuses him of helping to plan Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
- US President Donald Trump is meeting his national security team at the White House as he considers joining Israel’s attacks on Iran.
- This comes as the US moved several B-2 stealth bombers to the Pacific territory of Guam.
- The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, says Israel has attacked a large nuclear complex in Isfahan, Iran, for a second time in nine days. But he says there is no danger of radiation from the attack.
- Israel continues its attacks on Gaza, killing at least 41 Palestinians across the Strip on Saturday alone.
Welcome to our coverage
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.
Stay with us for the latest developments, reactions and analyses.
You can find all our updates from Saturday, June 21, here.
