Tehran says US betrayed diplomacy, vows ‘ever-lasting consequences’
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said US air strikes on Sunday “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East.
Condemning the US attacks as a violation of international law, Iran said it was “resolved to defend Iran’s territory, sovereignty, security and people by all force”.
The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck Iran on June 13, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently denied the claim, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2025
Israel had launched wide-scale air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites and private residences, killing top commanders, scientists and hundreds others. Both countries have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since then.
In a televised address to the nation from the White House earlier today, Trump warned that the United States would go after more targets if Iran did not make peace quickly.
The intervention by a US president who had vowed to avoid another “forever war” in the region threatens to dramatically widen the conflict, with Iran having said it would retaliate if Washington got involved.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” said Trump, adding that they targeted the crucial underground nuclear enrichment plant of Fordo along with facilities at Natanz and Isfahan.
“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” said Trump.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the strikes, saying that “the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history”.
Trump spoke to Netanyahu after the attacks, while the US also gave Israel a “heads up” before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP.
Not long after, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and explosions were heard from Jerusalem as Iranian state TV announced a fresh salvo of missiles launched.
No signs of nuclear radiation
Tehran said there were “no signs of contamination” after the US attacks and Saudi regulators said “no radioactive effects were detected” in the Gulf region.
Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordow plant, as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites, were attacked.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity show that five to 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. Earlier today, there were reports that US B-2 bombers — which carry so-called “bunker buster” bombs — were headed out of the US.
Tehran had threatened reprisals on US forces in the Middle East if Trump attacked.
Denouncing the US attacks as “lawless and criminal”, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has a right to defend its sovereignty.
“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” he posted on X.
“Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”
In a statement issued by its foreign ministry, Iran strongly condemned the “United States’ brutal military aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities”.
It said the US actions — “carried out in collusion with the genocidal Israeli regime— once again laid bare the depth of depravity that governs American foreign policy and revealed the extent of hostility harboured by the US ruling establishment against the peace-seeking and independence-loving people of Iran”.
“The world must not forget that it was the United States that, in the midst of a diplomatic process, betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal and lawbreaking Israeli regime to impose a war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” the ministry said.
Iran called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to condemn this “criminal act of aggression”.
It also urged the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which it accused of “evident bias in favour of warmongering parties”, to “carry out its legal responsibility” as Iran’s nuclear facilities were under the agency’s safeguards and monitoring.
It highlighted that the US attacks violated the UN Charter and UNSC’s Resolution 2231 from 2015 on Iran’s nuclear issue, also terming it a “devastating blow” to the global non-proliferation system.
“Silence in the face of such blatant aggression would plunge the world into an unprecedented level of danger and chaos,” the statement added.
Pakistan also condemned the US attacks, saying it was “gravely concerned at the possible further escalation of tensions in the region”.
“We reiterate that these attacks violate all norms of international law and that Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself under the UN Charter,” a statement by the Foreign Office said.
“The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran, is deeply disturbing. Any further escalation of tensions will have severely damaging implications for the region and beyond,” it warned.
It stressed that “recourse to dialogue, diplomacy, in line with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, remains the only viable pathway to resolve the crises in the region”.
“We emphasise the imperative need to respect civilian lives and properties and immediately bring the conflict to end. All parties must adhere to international law, particularly International Humanitarian Law,” the statement asserted.
Surprise attack
Trump had said on Thursday that he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join Israel’s campaign, in a move that many saw as a window of diplomatic opportunity.
But the Republican’s decision to strike Iran came far sooner.
Flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump said that future attacks would be “far greater” unless Iran reached a diplomatic solution.
“Remember, there are many targets left,” he said.
Trump, however, made no mention of regime change, despite having warned last week that Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an “easy target”.
No regime change?
The US contacted Iran diplomatically yesterday to say the strikes are all the US plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported.
The raid on the Iranian nuclear sites was carried out by B-2 stealth bombers that dropped so-called “bunker buster bombs”, along with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, US media reported.
Trump said earlier on his Truth Social site that a “full payload of bombs” was dropped on Fordow, adding that “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!” he said.
In another post, the US president called it a “historic moment for the United States of America, Israel, and the world”. “Iran must now agree to end this war,” he wrote.
Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons and says its programme is for civilian purposes only. The IAEA last week Tehran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.
However, a US intelligence assessment found that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon programme and was “years away from producing one”, a report from CNN released on Tuesday said.
Israel, which is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned yesterday of a “more devastating” retaliation should Israel’s nine-day bombing campaign continue. He said Tehran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme “cannot be taken away … by threats or war”.
Pictures posted by the White House showed Trump in a red “Make America Great Again” cap meeting with top national security officials in the Situation Room, shortly before the strikes were announced.
After the address, Trump warned Iran against “any retaliation”.
However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced earlier today that “suicide drones” had been launched against “strategic targets” across Israel.
Iran and other armed groups have previously attacked US military bases in the region, including in Iraq.
Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen had yesterday threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war.
MAGA split adds to Democrats’ criticism
The US military strikes on Iran also threaten to cause political tensions at home for Trump.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune voiced their support for Trump’s decision.
However, the issue has opened a split in Trump’s “MAGA” movement, with many key Republican supporters calling on Trump to avoid embroiling the United States in another foreign war.
Trump’s first 2016 election victory in particular came on the back of his promises to get America out of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first.”
Pointing out that Israel was a nuclear-armed nation, she wrote on X: “This is not our fight.”
“Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” Greene said.
Democrats also assailed him, with several accusing him of bypassing Congress to launch a new war.
Jim Himes, a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, highlighted that Trump’s decision “without Congressional approval is a clear violation of the Constitution”.
“We also don’t know if this will lead to further escalation in the region and attacks against our forces, events that could easily pull us even deeper into a war in the Middle East,” he said in a statement.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also noted there was no authorisation from Congress and termed it a “disastrous decision”.
“He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” she asserted.
Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump risked US “entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East”. He added that the US president had “failed to deliver” on his promise of bringing peace to the Middle East. — Reuters, AFP
