“Extremely severe damage and destruction.” The US military struck the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites in Iran overnight, causing “severe damage and destruction.” The top US military officer gave details of the strikes, which included the use of 14 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs.
The blast in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Syria’s capital was carried out as people were praying inside the Mar Elias Church.
A suicide bomber in Syria has carried out an attack inside a church filled with people, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more, according to the Syria’s Ministry of Health and security officials.
The explosion in Dweil’a on the outskirts of Damascus took place as people were praying during mass inside the Mar Elias Church on Sunday.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the Syrian Interior Ministry said a fighter from the ISIL (ISIS) group entered the church and fired at the people there before detonating himself with an explosives vest, echoing some witness testimonies.
The death toll reported was a preliminary one. “Rescue teams from the Syria Civil Defence continue to recover bodies from the scene,” a statement on Telegram said on Sunday.
Official state agency SANA, citing the Health Ministry, said that at least 50 others were wounded.
Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.
The attack was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as the fledgling interim government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa is trying to win the support of minorities.
As al-Sharaa struggles to exert authority across Syria, there have been concerns about the presence of sleeper cells of groups like ISIL (ISIS) in the country recovering from nearly 14 years of devastating civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
Syria has made significant inroads back into the international fold since al-Sharaa became president in January 2025, with both the United States and the European Union lifting sanctions from the era of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
‘He was shooting at the church’
A witness who identified himself as Rawad told The Associated Press that he saw the attacker, who was accompanied by two others who fled as he was driving near the church.
“He was shooting at the church … he then went inside the church and blew himself up,” he said.
Security forces and first responders rushed to the scene.
Panicked survivors wailed, as one woman fell to her knees and burst into tears.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mostafa condemned the blast, calling it a “terrorist” attack.
“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that bring us together,” he said in a post on X.
“We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship … and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organisations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen condemned “in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack at St. Elias Church” and expressed “his outrage at this heinous crime.” His statement also noted “that the Syrian interim authorities have attributed this attack to ISIL and (he) calls for a full investigation and action by the authorities.”
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said the “treacherous” attack aimed to disrupt efforts to achieve stability and security in Syria.
France’s foreign ministry also condemned the “despicable” attack. France “expresses its full solidarity with the Syrian people, who hope that Syria will find its way back to peace,” the ministry said in a statement.
Photos circulated by the Syria Civil Defence showed the church’s interior area in ruins, with pews covered in debris and blood.
Responders and members of the Syria Civil Defence inspect the damage in the church [Firas Makdesi/Reuters]
Trump claimed in a post that the heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility was “gone”.
The US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that the US strikes were an “incredible and overwhelming success”, without providing any evidence or details.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a further threat against Iran, saying any retaliation would be “the worst mistake they’ve ever made.”
During an address to a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkiye, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US crossed “a very big red line” by attacking Iran’s three nuclear facilities.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said 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”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on a ‘bold decision’ to attack Iran.
Israeli emergency services say Iranian rockets and falling shrapnel hit 10 locations. The latest Iranian retaliation followed the US strikes.
Israel’s military said it carried out more attacks on western Iran against what it claimed are “military targets”.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran’s most recent missile strikes targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, along with research facilities.
The IRGC is now deploying one of its most advanced missiles, the Kheibar Shekan, as part of its retaliatory measures. Unveiled in 2022, the missile also known as Khorramshahr-4 is believed to have the heaviest payload of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
Casualties and disruptions
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that there have been no fatalities in the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
An adviser to Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that 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,” the adviser said.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said that radiation system data and field surveys do not show signs of contamination or danger to residents near the sites of Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
The Israel Airports Authority says it has closed its airspace until further notice “due to recent developments”, referring to the US attack on Iran.
Airline carriers have continued to steer clear of significant areas of the Middle East following the US strikes, according to Flightradar24.
A man convicted of spying for Israel has been executed, the Iranian judicial news outlet Mizan Online reports.
At least 27 people have been wounded in Israel after Iran launched 40 missiles shortly after the US attacks. One of the targets hit was Ramat Aviv in Tel Aviv, with missiles tearing holes in the facades of apartment blocks.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that Israel bombed the city of Tabriz, targeting the IRGC’s Martyr Madani camp, wounding at least two.
Iranian authorities said nine security personnel were killed after Israeli forces struck two military sites in the central province of Yazd, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.
Gulf states, home to multiple US military bases, are on high alert after the bombardment of Iran raised the possibility of a widening war in the region.
Bahrain has told 70 percent of government employees to work from home until further notice.
US opposition to attacks
In one of the first responses to the attack by a Democratic member of the US Congress, Sara Jacobs said: “Trump’s strikes against Iran are not only unconstitutional, but an escalation that risks bringing the US into another endless and deadly war.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Trump did not seek congressional authorisation for the strikes and will bear full responsibility for “any adverse consequences”.
Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman, said Trump’s ordering of strikes on Iran without the approval of lawmakers is a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has been leading a legislative effort to curb Trump’s ability to attack Iran without the approval of Congress, said the strikes violate the US Constitution, which gives lawmakers the authority over war decisions.
US Senator Chris Murphy joined the Democratic chorus of criticism. “I was briefed on the intelligence last week,” he said. “Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States.”
Global reactions, politics and diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session following the US-led strikes, prompting sharp rebukes from several member states, and renewed calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, as allies Israel and the US lauded the attack.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the region stood “on the brink of a deadly downward spiral.”
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said international law isn’t a choice but an obligation.
China “strongly condemned” the US attack, noting its nuclear facilities were under the safeguards of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the “absolute majority” of nations are against “the actions of Israel and the United States”.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Palestinian group Hamas and Yemen’s Houthis, all allies of Iran, condemned what Hezbollah called the “barbaric and treacherous” US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Saudi Arabia said that it’s “following with deep concern the developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly the targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States of America.”
Gulf nations Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates all also expressed concern over what the attacks could portend for the region.
Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry warned that the US strikes have made the risk of escalation more likely.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the US military action, saying the attacks “alleviate” the “threat” posed by Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, is calling for a return to dialogue. “Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” she said, “as it would be a threat to international security.”
Tensions soar at UN as Iran, allies condemn US military action, while US, Israel reject censure.
The United Nations Security Council has convened an emergency session following US-led strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, prompting sharp rebukes from several member states and renewed calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East, as allies Israel and the US lauded the attack.
Russia, China and Pakistan have proposed a resolution demanding an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire”, according to diplomats familiar with the draft circulated on Sunday. While the proposal does not explicitly name the United States or Israel, it condemns the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. A vote has not yet been scheduled.
To pass, the resolution requires the backing of at least nine members and no vetoes from the five permanent members — the US, UK, France, Russia and China, which makes it a non-starter since the US will not censure itself.
Speaking to the Council, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the region stood “on the brink of a deadly downward spiral.”
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” Guterres said. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation. We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear programme.”
Acting US ambassador Dorothy Shea defended the military action, stating that Washington had moved to dismantle Iran’s enrichment capacity in order to protect both its citizens and allies.
“The time finally came for the United States, in defence of its ally and our own interests, to act decisively,” Shea told the chamber. “Iran should not escalate… any Iranian attack, direct or indirect, against Americans or American bases will be met with devastating retaliation.”
Iran’s Ambassador Ali Bahreini said the Israeli and US attacks on Iran did not come about “in a vacuum”, adding that they are the result of “politically motivated actions” of the US and its European partners.
He said the US “decided to destroy diplomacy” and pointedly made it clear that the Iranian military will decide on the “timing, nature and scale” of its response.
Meanwhile, Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon said the attacks had made the world “a safer place”, rejecting calls for condemnation. “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us,” he said when asked whether Israel supported regime change in Tehran
China’s ambassador Fu Cong condemned the US strikes and urged restraint. “We call for an immediate ceasefire,” he said. “China is deeply concerned about the risk of the situation getting out of control.”
Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzya described the attacks as yet another sign of Washington’s disregard for global norms. “The US has opened a Pandora’s box,” he said. “No one knows what catastrophe or suffering will follow.”
Pakistan’s ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad also condemned the US bombing, calling it deeply troubling. “The sharp rise in tensions and violence as a result of Israeli aggression and unlawful actions is profoundly disturbing,” he said. “Pakistan stands in solidarity with the government and brotherly people of Iran during this challenging time.” This came the day after Pakistan suggested US President Donald Trump be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s announcement that American forces had “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites marked the most significant Western military action against Tehran since the 1979 revolution.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told the Council that while the scale of underground damage remains unclear, impact craters were visible at the Fordow enrichment site. The entrances to tunnels at Isfahan appeared to have been struck, while Natanz — long a target of Israeli sabotage — had been hit again.
Iran has castigated Grossi for being complicit in paving the way for Israel and the US to attack it.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors approved a resolution declaring Iran was not complying with its commitment to international nuclear safeguards the day before Israel launched its initial attack on June 13.
Several close U.S. allies urged a return to the negotiating table in the wake of American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, while noting the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear program. Some countries and groups in the region, including those that support Iran, condemned the move while also urging de-escalation.
President Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israel’s war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days. Washington hit three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday in Iran.
While the amount of damage remained unclear, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. had “crossed a very big red line,” the time for diplomacy was over and Iran had the right to defend itself.
Some have questioned whether a weakened Iran would capitulate or remain defiant and begin striking with allies at U.S. targets scattered across the Persian Gulf region.
Here is a look at reactions from governments and officials around the world.
United Nations
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X. “I call on Member States to de-escalate.
“There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.”
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned of escalation beyond the Middle East as he called for all sides to negotiate a diplomatic end to the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region.
The U.K., along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution in Geneva last week with Iran.
Starmer said Iran’s nuclear program posed a grave threat to global security.
“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said.
Russia
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons.
He didn’t specify which countries, but said the U.S. attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” the airstrikes and called them a “a gross violation of international law, the U.N. Charter, and U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
Iraq
The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. strikes, saying the military escalation created a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It said it poses serious risks to regional stability, and it called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis.
“The continuation of such attacks risks dangerous escalation with consequences that extend beyond the borders of any single state, threatening the security of the entire region and the world,” government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in the statement.
Egypt
President Abdel Fattah Sisi warned of “grave repercussions” for expanding the Middle East conflict and urged a return to negotiations.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, which previously condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leaders, expressed “deep concern” about the U.S. airstrikes, but stopped short of condemning them.
“The Kingdom underscores the need to exert all possible efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Qatar
Qatar, which is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, said it “regrets” escalating tensions in the Israel-Iran war.
Its Foreign Ministry in a statement urged all parties to show restraint and “avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate.”
Qatar has served as a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war.
Hamas and the Houthis
The Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas in the Gaza Strip condemned the U.S. strikes.
The Houthi political bureau in a statement called on Muslim nations to join “the Jihad and resistance option as one front against the Zionist-American arrogance.”
Hamas and the Houthis are part of the “Axis of Resistance,” a collection of pro-Iranian proxies backed by the Tehran government stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave the Islamic Republic considerable power across the region.
Lebanon
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the U.S. bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.
“Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,” Aoun said in a statement on X. “It is unwilling to pay more.”
Pakistan
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who spoke by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, condemned the U.S. strikes as a “serious violation of international law,” his office said.
The condemnation comes less than 24 hours after Sharif’s government said on X it was recommending Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in defusing the recent India-Pakistan crisis.
China
China condemned the U.S. strikes on Iran, calling them a serious violation of international law that further inflamed tensions in the Middle East.
In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged all parties — especially Israel — to implement a cease-fire and begin dialogue.
“China is willing to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and contribute to the work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East,” the ministry said.
European Union
The European Union’s top diplomat said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but she urged those involved in the conflict to show restraint.
“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on social media.
Italy
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she discussed the worsening crisis with several other members of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations, as well as the Saudi, Emirati and Qatari leaders, and all agreed to work toward negotiations to prevent a widening conflict.
European Council
President Antonio Costa said he was “deeply alarmed” by the bombings and called on all parties to “show restraint and respect for international law and nuclear safety.”
“Too many civilians will once again be the victims of a further escalation,” Costa added. “The EU will continue engaging with the parties and our partners to find a peaceful solution at the negotiating table.”
Netherlands
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country is hosting a summit of NATO leaders including Trump on Tuesday and Wednesday, said the government’s national security council would meet later to discuss the issue.
He said the U.S. attacks amounted to “a further escalation of a worrying situation in the Middle East.”
Latin America
Left-wing Latin American governments expressed fierce opposition to the U.S. strikes.
Iran-allied Venezuela called the attacks “illegal, unjustifiable and extremely dangerous.” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said they were an insult to the Middle East. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said they violated “rules we have established as humanity.” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry made “an urgent call for peace.”
In contrast, Argentina’s hard-right president, Javier Milei, a loyal ally of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised the attacks on social media. “Terrorism, never again,” his spokesperson said.
Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Sunday that it was crucial to calm the situation as soon as possible, adding that the Iranian nuclear weapons development also must be prevented.
Ishiba, asked whether he supports the U.S. attacks on Iran, declined to comment.
The Vatican
Pope Leo XIV made a strong appeal for peace during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, calling for international diplomacy to “silence the weapons.”
After an open reference to the “alarming” situation in Iran, the first American pontiff stressed that “today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace, and it is a cry that demands reason and must not be stifled.”
Pope Leo urged every member of the international community to take up their moral responsibility to “stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
United States Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have said that the US is not seeking to topple the government in Iran via “regime change” and is not at war with the country in the wake of its unprecedented surprise attack overnight on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
The comments on Sunday followed Washington, DC joining Israel’s strikes on its arch-foe, which have been met by daily retaliatory strikes from Iran and are now in their 10th day.
Vance said on Sunday that the US had successfully set back Iran’s nuclear programme, adding that US President Donald Trump now hopes to pursue a diplomatic solution.
Speaking on the NBC News show Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, he maintained his country was “not at war with Iran, we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear programme”.
“We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it’s already been built out. We want to end their nuclear programme,” Vance said, adding: “We want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here.”
Meanwhile, Hegseth claimed the series of US strikes against Iran “devastated” its nuclear programme, as he asserted Washington was not seeking “regime change” in Tehran.
There has been no independent confirmation of how heavily the US strikes impacted the sites, or Tehran’s nuclear efforts, which it has repeatedly said are for civilian purposes only.
The Pentagon chief urged Iran’s leaders to find an off-ramp to the conflict after Trump announced the strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordow, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.
Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing that the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people”.
“I can only confirm that there are both public and private messages being delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the table,” Hegseth added in the news conference with General Dan Caine, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change,” he said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier that the US strikes on his country have blown up any possibility of diplomacy and strongly intimated a response was in gestation.
During an address to a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Sunday, Araghchi said the US crossed “a very big red line” by attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Trump’s intervention – despite his past pledges to avoid another “forever war” – threatens to dramatically widen the conflict after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last week, with Tehran vowing to retaliate if Washington joined in.
The US and Iran had been engaged in multiple rounds of nuclear talks brokered by Oman before Israel launched a strike on Iran, unconditionally supported by the US, earlier this month.
‘Bombers took off from US’
Standing alongside Hegseth, Caine said that an assessment of the destruction sustained at Iran’s nuclear facilities will take time to confirm.
“I think PDA [preliminary damage assessment] is still pending and it would be way too early for me to comment on what or what may not still be there,” he said. He confirmed B-2 bombers were launched from the US on Friday for an 18-hour flight to their targets for the “strike package”.
“Operation Midnight Hammer” included several “deception and decoy” manoeuvres. High-speed suppression fire was used to protect the B-2s, and Caine said there’s no indication “any shots were fired” by Iranian defences.
“Iran’s fighters did not fly and it appears Iran’s missile systems did not see us,” Caine said.
He declined to comment on specific moves taken to protect US troops based in the Middle East from potential Iranian retaliation.
“Our joint force remains ready to defend the United States – our troops and our interests in the region,” said Caine.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, said Hegseth gave a very clear message on behalf of the US that this is not an open-ended operation, although there was a warning that while it is intentionally limited, the capabilities of the US military are not.
“What is clear is this was a well-coordinated operation,” Fisher said.
“But as we heard from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they obviously still have to get full intelligence from the site, and this will take some time,” Fisher said. “So they don’t know whether it has been a huge success. But what it does do is send a real message.”
Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS there were no planned military operations against Iran at the moment.
‘No fatalities’ in Iranian sites
Trump announced that the US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites in a “very successful attack” overnight into Sunday.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump’s decision to join Israel’s military campaign against Iran has escalated an already intensive conflict and threatens a potential all-out regional war.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said there were no fatalities in the US strikes on the nuclear facilities, according to Iranian state television.
An Iranian health ministry spokesperson cited by state media said none of those injured in the US attacks and sent to hospitals had radiation contamination.
On Saturday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme “cannot be taken away… by threats or war”. Tehran denies seeking an atomic bomb.
Trump has stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck Iran on June 13, repeating his insistence that it could never have nuclear weapons. He seemed to be uncertain of whether to move militarily, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have been one of the key voices he was attuned to.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Scott Lucas, a professor of US and international politics at University College Dublin, said the reason Trump decided to strike Iran after appearing to opt for diplomacy until recently was “Because Donald Trump got played by the Israelis; some might say manipulated.”
US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States has “totally obliterated” three Iranian nuclear sites in what he called “spectacularly successful” strikes.
The military used so-called “bunker buster” bombs and missiles to target the heavily fortified Fordow facility as well as Natanz and Isfahan sites.
Trump’s decision to join Israel’s military campaign marks a sharp escalation in the region, which has seen more than 21 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The US intervention comes more than a week after Israel launched an unprovoked strike on Iranian nuclear and military sites after accusing Tehran of making an atomic bomb.
Iran, as well as the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has rejected the claims that Tehran was on the cusp of developing nuclear weapons.
How did the attack happen, and which sites were targeted?
Trump announced the bombing of three of Iran’s main nuclear sites:
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant – A heavily fortified, deeply buried uranium enrichment site near the northern city of Qom.
Natanz Nuclear Facility – Iran’s main uranium-enrichment complex, located near Isfahan in central Iran.
Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center – A key conversion and research facility south of Isfahan city.
According to US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a large formation of seven B-2 stealth bombers, each with two crew members, was launched from the US on Friday at midnight as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, the US on Sunday, June 22, 2025, after the US military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s effort to destroy the country’s nuclear programme [Alex Brandon/AP]
To maintain tactical surprise, a decoy group flew west over the Pacific, while the main strike group headed east with minimal communications during an 18-hour flight.
At 5pm EST (1:30am local time and 21:00 GMT), a US submarine in the region launched more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, striking surface infrastructure targets in Isfahan.
At 6:40pm EST (2:10am Iran time and 22:40 GMT), the lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) on Fordow, followed by a total of 14 MOPs dropped across Fordow and Natanz.
All three nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—were hit between 6:40pm and 7:05pm EST (1:30am-2:10am local time; 22:40-23:10 GMT). The final wave of Tomahawk missiles struck Isfahan last to preserve surprise.
In total, more than 125 US aircraft participated, including stealth bombers, fighter jets, dozens of tankers, surveillance aircraft, and support crews.
The Pentagon described it as the largest B-2 combat operation in US history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown. Force protection across the region was elevated in anticipation of potential retaliation.
Where are Iran’s nuclear sites?
Iran’s nuclear programme is spread across several key sites. While Iran insists its programme is peaceful and aimed at energy and medical research, the US and Israel remain deeply suspicious.
Iran’s resumption of uranium enrichment after the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 has only deepened tensions. Israel, which had vehemently opposed the nuclear deal under US President Barack Obama, has vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by any means necessary. On June 13, it launched strikes on Iran a day ahead of a sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks.
(Al Jazeera)
Attack on Fordow
Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, located about 95km (60 miles) southwest of Tehran, is built deep inside a mountain, reportedly up to 80-90 metres (260-300 feet) underground, to survive air strikes and bunker buster attacks.
(Al Jazeera)
According to Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency, three locations show damage: two craters resulting from bunker-busting bombs, and a damaged air defence site designed to shield the nuclear reactor.
Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the chairman of the Iranian parliament, claimed that the US attack was not surprising and that no irreversible damage was sustained during the strikes. He added that authorities had evacuated all three sites in advance.
(Al Jazeera)
Attack on Natanz
Natanz nuclear facility, the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran, is located in Isfahan province.
In a previous attack on June 15, the above-ground section of a pilot fuel enrichment plant, where uranium was enriched up to 60 percent, was destroyed by an Israeli strike, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Natanz’s key electricity infrastructure, such as the substation, main power building, emergency supply, and backup generators, was also destroyed. There was no direct hit on the underground cascade hall, but the power loss may have damaged centrifuges used for uranium enrichment.
(Al Jazeera)
Attack on Isfahan
Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center is a key conversion and research facility south of Isfahan city. It plays a critical role in preparing raw materials for enrichment and reactor use.
This is the third time Isfahan has been struck since Israel launched attacks across Iran on June 13, prompting fears of a regional escalation.
Bunker buster bombs
The strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites were conducted using B-2 stealth bombers armed with so-called “bunker buster” bombs, alongside submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Experts have long noted that the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant—buried deep within a mountain—could only be destroyed by the US’s 30,000-pound (13,600kg) Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the world’s most powerful bunker-busting bomb. The US remains the only country known to possess this weapon.
(Al Jazeera)
No signs of contamination
Iran’s nuclear agency said on Sunday that radiation monitoring and field assessments show no signs of contamination or risk to residents near the targeted sites.
“Following the illegal US attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, no contamination has been recorded,” the agency posted on social media. “There is no danger to residents around these sites. Safety remains stable.”
In a separate statement, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran vowed that its nuclear activities would continue despite the strikes, saying it “assures the great Iranian nation that, despite the hostile conspiracies of its enemies, the efforts of thousands of committed and revolutionary scientists will ensure that this national industry—built on the blood of nuclear martyrs—will not be stopped”.
The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, also did not notice an increase in radiation levels near the targeted sites.
The attacks came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat, with more than 400 killed in Iran and 24 casualties reported in Israel.
Six Iranian scientists, two of whom were prominent nuclear scientists, were also killed in Israeli strikes.
The United States struck three key nuclear sites in Iran early on Sunday, injecting itself into Israel’s war with Iran in a sophisticated mission and prompting fears of military escalation in the Middle East amid Israel’s brutal onslaught of Gaza.
In a televised address early on Sunday, US President Donald Trump justified the strikes, saying they were aimed at stopping “the nuclear threat” posed by Iran. Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow sites, which are involved in the production or storage of enriched uranium, were targeted.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he said, warning Tehran against retaliation.
Israel and Trump claim that Iran can use the enriched uranium to make atomic warheads. But Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also rejected Israeli claims that Iran was on the verge of making nuclear weapons.
Condemning the strikes, which US officials said were covertly coordinated, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the time for diplomacy had passed and that his country had the right to defend itself.
“The warmongering, a lawless administration in Washington, is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,” he said at a news conference in Istanbul, Turkiye.
Iranian officials, meanwhile, have not detailed the extent of the damage and have attempted to downplay the significance of the hits. Speaking on state TV, Hassan Abedini, the deputy political director of Iran’s state broadcaster, said the three nuclear sites had been evacuated “a while ago” and that they “didn’t suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out”.
Here’s what to know about the nuclear plants hit and what the attacks mean for Iran:
Which facilities were hit?
Trump on Sunday said a full “payload” of bombs “obliterated” Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites. Iranian officials, according to the Reuters news agency, also confirmed that the three facilities were hit.
Fordow is an underground enrichment facility in operation since 2006. Built deep inside the mountains some 48km (30 miles) from the Iranian city of Qom, north of Tehran, the site enjoys natural cover. The primary focus of Sunday’s strikes, Fordow was hit with Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOPs) or “bunker-buster” bombs delivered from B-2 stealth bomber planes, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine said in a briefing on Sunday. The 13,000kg (28,700lb) GBU-57 MOP is the most powerful bunker-buster bomb, able to penetrate 60m (200 feet) below ground and delivering up to 2,400kg (5,300lb) of explosives, while the bombers are hard to detect. Caine added that 14 MOPs were delivered to at least two nuclear sites. Israel had earlier attacked Fordow on June 13, causing surface damage, but security analysts believe only US bunker busters can penetrate the facility. An independent assessment of the scale of the damage is not yet available.
Natanz is considered the largest nuclear enrichment facility in Iran, located about 300km (186 miles) south of Tehran. It is believed to consist of two facilities. One is the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which is a test and research facility located above ground and used to assemble centrifuges, rapidly rotating machines used for uranium enrichment. According to the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative, the facility had close to a thousand centrifuges. The other facility, located deep beneath the ground, is the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP). Caine did not specify what weapons hit Natanz on said on Sunday.
Isfahan is an atomic research facility located in the central city of Isfahan. It was built in the 1970s and was used for uranium conversion. It was the last location hit before the US bombing mission, which involved about 125 aircraft, withdrew from the Iranian airspace, according to officials. Caine said “more than two dozen” Tomahawk missiles were fired at Isfahan from US submarines. said the Iranians did not detect the mission and were notified afterwards.
Are the sites destroyed?
Independent impact assessment of the US strikes at Fordow remains unclear.
Defence Secretary Hegseth on Sunday said the US’s “initial assessment is that all our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and achieved the desired effect”, citing particular damage at Fordow.
An Iranian lawmaker told Al Jazeera that the site suffered superficial damage. Israeli strikes on the plant last week only caused “limited, if any, damage” at the underground plant, according to IAEA boss Rafael Grossi.
The extent of damage at Natanz is also unclear following Sunday’s strike. Earlier Israeli attacks “completely destroyed” the above-ground plant, and caused centrifuges in the underground parts of the uranium plant to be “severely damaged if not destroyed altogether”, even though it was not directly hit, Grossi told reporters last week.
Meanwhile, the IAEA said on Sunday that six buildings at Isfahan suffered damage following the US attacks, including a workshop handling contaminated equipment. Earlier Israeli strikes had damaged four buildings on the site, the agency had reported, including the plant’s central chemical laboratory.
Initial reports from Iran and neighbouring Gulf countries such as Kuwait further indicate that there is no significant leakage of radioactive material from any of the plants. That could suggest that Iranian officials might have moved the stockpiles of enriched uranium out of the facilities targeted by the US, analysts say.
According to the IRNA news agency, Reza Kardan, the deputy director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the head of the National Nuclear Safety System Center in the country, confirmed on Sunday that “no radiation contamination or nuclear radiation has been observed outside” the sites.
“Preliminary plans had been made and measures had been taken to protect the safety and health of the dear people of the country, and despite the criminal actions this morning in attacking nuclear facilities, due to the previously planned measures and the measures taken, no radiation contamination or nuclear radiation has been observed outside these sites and facilities,” Kardan said.
The IAEA also said the radiation levels near targeted sites had not increased.
“Following attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran – including Fordow – the IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,” the agency said in a social media post on Sunday.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says it is likely Iran had taken precautionary actions ahead of the US attacks.
“It appears that they already had gotten an advanced warning,” he told Al Jazeera.
“They understood that he [Trump] was buying time while moving military assets in order to actually strike. So, I think for some time they have moved those assets – where they are is unclear at this point.”
Will this derail Iran’s nuclear efforts?
The impact of the strikes on Iran’s overall nuclear programme is yet unknown.
However, analysts say there was no clear evidence that Iran had advanced so far as to be able to reach weaponisation in its nuclear programme in the first place.
Parsi said Iran’s most valuable nuclear asset is its stockpile of enriched uranium.
“As long as they continue to have that, they still actually have very much a nuclear programme that still could be weaponised,” he added.
“And I think we are going to start to hear from the Israelis in rather short order, that this was not the type of successful strike Trump has claimed, but they are going to start making the case that there needs to be a more ongoing bombing campaign against Iran.”
Has Iran’s nuclear programme suffered setbacks before?
Yes. Iran’s nuclear ambitions started back in the 1950s under the leadership of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a close ally of the US and Israel. The shah’s original vision was to build Iran’s nuclear capacities for both energy generation and, to a lesser extent, weapons manufacturing. The US, Germany, and France all supported the country with aid and technology. However, following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the new government, under leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, halted or paused parts of the programme, arguing that it was expensive and that it represented Iran’s continued reliance on Western technology.
Shelved or cancelled programmes further took a hit during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) when the country was forced to divert resources to the war effort after Iraq’s invasion. Its Bushehr nuclear reactor site, which was under construction as part of a partnership with the industrial manufacturing giant Siemens, was bombed severely by Iraq and was left in near-total damage. Siemens eventually withdrew from the project. The government would later on reportedly restart the nuclear programme, although Iranian leadership has always insisted it is pursuing nuclear power for civilian use.
Stuxnet – a computer virus developed by Israel and the US, likely launched back in 2005 but discovered in 2010 – caused extensive damage to Iran’s nuclear capabilities. The programme, nicknamed Operation Olympic Games, compromised the Iranian network and caused centrifuges to tear themselves apart. It reportedly expanded rapidly under former US President Barack Obama, but began during the administration of US President George W Bush.
Under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the country was forced to limit its enrichment capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. The deal, signed between Iran, China, Russia, the US, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union, capped enrichment at 3.67 percent. Sanctions, some of them in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, were gradually removed. Tehran complied with the terms of the deal, according to the (IAEA). It also agreed to allow the IAEA regular monitoring access. However, Trump pulled out of the agreement during his first term as US president in 2018, and slapped on sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign, forcing Tehran to also discard the terms though it continued to cooperate with the IAEA.
Iran says the United States will be “solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences” of its attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, adding that US President Donald Trump has “betrayed” American voters by submitting to Israel’s wishes.
During an address to a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US crossed “a very big red line” by attacking Iran’s three nuclear facilities.
Speaking just hours after Trump announced that US warplanes had “obliterated” the nuclear sites, Araghchi condemned the strikes and called on the United Nations Security Council to act.
“It is an outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” he said, adding that the “warmongering and lawless” US administration will be “solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression”.
“The US military attack on the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of a UN member state carried out in collusion with the genocidal Israeli regime has once again revealed the extent of the United States’ hostility towards the peace-seeking people of Iran. We will never compromise on their independence and sovereignty,” he said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to defend Iran’s territory, sovereignty, and people by all means necessary against not just US military aggression, but also the reckless and unlawful actions of the Israeli regime.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who escalated the Middle East conflict by launching strikes on Iran on June 13, praised Trump’s “bold decision” to hit Iran’s nuclear sites, and said Israel and the US acted in “full coordination”.
After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war” and that under no circumstances could Iran possess a nuclear weapon.
But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations on the country’s nuclear programme was “irrelevant”. The US and Iran were engaged in nuclear talks before Israel launched a surprise strike on Iran – publicly backed by the US – earlier this month.
Iran denies its uranium enrichment programme is for anything other than civilian purposes, rejecting Israeli allegations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons. Netanyahu has pledged to continue the attacks for “as many days as it takes” to stop Iran from developing a “nuclear threat”.
Reporters take photos of a displayed graphic as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, the United States, June 22, 2025 [Alex Brandon/AP]
“The world must not forget that it was the United States which – in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome – betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” Araghchi said.
“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked. They gave a green light to Israelis, if not instructed them, to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday said he still hopes Iran will return to the negotiating table.
“I can only confirm that there are both public and private messages being delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the table,” he told reporters.
Trump also ‘betrayed’ US voters
Araghchi also accused Trump of betraying not only Iran, but his own supporters as well. He said Trump was elected on a platform of putting an end to “America’s costly involvement in ‘forever wars’”.
“He has betrayed not only Iran by abusing our commitment to diplomacy, but also deceived his own voters by submitting to the wishes of a wanted war criminal who has grown accustomed to exploiting the lives and wealth of American citizens to further the Israeli regime’s objectives,” said Araghchi, referring to Netanyahu.
Iran says more than 400 people have been killed and at least 3,056 others wounded since Israel launched its attacks on June 13. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed in Iranian strikes.
Araghchi said he would head to Moscow later on Sunday and hold “serious consultations” with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday morning in the wake of the unprecedented US strikes.
“Russia is a friend of Iran and we enjoy a strategic partnership,” he said in Istanbul. “We always consult with each other and coordinate our positions.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s delegation to the UN also formally called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday to discuss the US strikes. In a letter submitted to the council carried by Fars News Agency, the Iranian delegation urged “immediate action and the adoption of necessary measures under the framework of the United Nations Charter”.
“Silence in the face of such blatant aggression will plunge the world into an unprecedented level of danger and chaos,” Araghchi said in Istanbul. “Humanity has come too far as a species to allow a lawless bully to take us back to the law of the jungle.”
Gilan, Iran – Iranians inside and outside the country have been closely monitoring and reacting to rapidly unfolding events after United States President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of Iran’s top nuclear sites amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
US bunker-buster bombs dropped from B-2 Spirit strategic bombers and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from naval platforms hit Iran’s three main nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan early on Sunday. Trump claimed the nuclear facilities were “totally obliterated”, though there has been no evidence shown as of yet to confirm that.
Iranian authorities confirmed the strikes after several hours, but said there was no radioactive leak. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed there was no off-site contamination.
Iranian state media appeared to downplay the impact, with the government-run IRNA reporting from an area near Fordow, the most significant and hard-to-reach nuclear site, that there was only limited smoke rising from the place where air defences were believed to be stationed and no major activity from emergency responders.
Satellite images circulating on Sunday appeared to show possible impact sites at Fordow, where the massive GBU-57 bombs are believed to have burrowed deep underground before detonating in an attempt to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities dug beneath the mountains.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said there had been no deaths in the US strikes.
Images also showed substantial movement of trucks and bulldozers around Fordow in the days preceding the strikes, in what appeared to be an attempt by Iran to move out equipment and nuclear materials stored at the protected site in anticipation of US strikes.
Heavy machinery also appeared to have been deployed to fill the entrance tunnels of the facility with earth, in a move aimed at limiting damage at the site from the incoming bombs.
Speaking in Turkiye’s Istanbul, where he was attending a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated a military response by Tehran is inevitable.
“My country has been invaded, and we must respond,” he told reporters. “We must remain patient and show a proportionate response to these aggressions. Only if these measures are stopped, then will we make decisions about diplomatic pathways and the possibility of restarting negotiations.”
In a televised message issued last week from an unknown location, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned that it would be to the detriment of Washington if it chooses to directly enter the war.
“The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter. The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if it enters this conflict militarily,” he said.
Hardliners call for action
Iranian state media and many hardline politicians led a furious response after the US strikes.
State television’s Channel 3 showed a map of US military bases across the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq, which are within range of Iranian missiles.
“It is now clearer than ever, not just for the Iranian nation but for the whole peoples of the region, that all US citizens and military personnel are legitimate targets. We were negotiating and progressing through a diplomatic path, but you chose to spill the blood of your soldiers. The US president in the Oval Office chose to take delivery of the coffins of up to 50,000 US soldiers in Washington,” the channel’s anchor Mehdi Khanalizadeh said.
Amirhossein Tahmasebi, another anchor who had released a defiant video from inside the state television IRIB buildings in northern Tehran after they were bombed by Israel last week, said he “spits” on Trump and anyone who claims he is a president of peace.
Hossein Shariatmadari, the Khamenei-appointed ultraconservative head of Keyhan daily newspaper, wrote: “It is now our turn to immediately rain missiles down on the US naval force in Bahrain as a first measure.”
He also renewed his longtime call for Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz and said Tehran must deny access to ships from the US, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Hamid Rasaei, one of the most hardline members of Iran’s parliament who is close to the Paydari (Steadfastness) faction led by security council member and failed presidential candidate Saeed Jalili, went one step further and said Iran must hit US bases in Saudi Arabia.
Relations between Tehran and Riyadh, however, have thawed considerably in recent years.
Threats against ‘treachery’
Most Iranians in the country are still unable to go online due to state-imposed internet restrictions, but those who have managed to find a working proxy connection are also reacting angrily to the war.
“Thirty years of Iranian oil money and thirty years of economic opportunities that could have turned tens of millions of people into citizens like the rest of the world have become three deep pits,” wrote one user on X, in reference to the nuclear sites.
“Trump says let me just drop the heaviest bomb in the world and then it will all be about peace,” another user sarcastically wrote.
“Stalwart like Damavand, to the last breath for Iran,” wrote two-time Oscar-winning film director Asghar Farhadi on Instagram with a picture of Mount Damavand, the highest peak in Iran at 5,609 metres (18,402 feet) and a symbol of national pride.
But some Iranians living overseas who are against the ruling theocratic establishment, along with some inside the country, were in favour of the US and Israeli attacks in the belief that they may help overthrow the governing body.
This has prompted denunciations, and even threats, by Iranian authorities and state media against any form of “treachery”.
Elias Hazrati, the head of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s communications council, said during a late-night state television interview on Saturday that the state views those who side with Israel and the US as “dishonourable opposition” who are selling out their own country.
In a statement on Friday, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said those who have willingly or unwillingly collaborated with Israel have until the end of Sunday to turn themselves in – or face “the harshest punishment as fifth column and colluders with a hostile country during wartime”.
Iran has executed several people since the start of the war, including one person on Sunday morning, after convicting them of “spying” for Israel.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says US strikes have ‘devastated the Iranian nuclear programme’ while avoiding Iran’s troops and civilians. The Pentagon chief praised President Donald Trump’s commitment to ‘peace through strength’ for halting Tehran’s perceived nuclear ambitions.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned the US military attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, calling it an ‘outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation’ of international law. He accused the Trump administration of colluding with Israel to breach Iran’s sovereignty, and vowed Tehran would defend its territory ‘by all means necessary.’
See the moment former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was held for 100 days in a US detention centre, was greeted by supporters after his release from custody. Khalil vowed to continue protesting US complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Washington, DC – As United States President Donald Trump lauded what he called the “spectacular military success” of the strikes he authorised against Iran, Democrats were quick to accuse him of overstepping his authority.
Numerous critics accused Trump late on Saturday of violating the US Constitution by launching military attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites without the approval of Congress.
“Trump said he would end wars; now he has dragged America into one,” Senator Christopher Van Hollen Junior said in a statement.
“His actions are a clear violation of our Constitution – ignoring the requirement that only the Congress has the authority to declare war.”
In the lead up to the US attacks, legislators from both main parties have pushed measures to compel Trump to approach Congress before launching any strikes.
The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war or authorise the use of force for specific purposes.
Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base has also been vehement in its opposition to the US joining Israel’s war. It has pointed out that Trump won the election on the promise not to commit Washington to yet another war in the Middle East. They want Trump to focus on domestic issues, particularly the economy.
‘Grounds for impeachment’
Lawmakers’ authority over the military was further enshrined in the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which curbed the president’s war-making powers.
Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Trump violated the constitution and the War Powers Resolution.
“He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” she said.
The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, so he can order attacks, but his decisions must be within the guidelines of what is authorised by Congress.
However, the president can order the military in the case of a “sudden attack” or to respond to emergencies.
Several Democrats were quick to note that Iran’s nuclear facilities, which have been operating for years, did not pose an imminent threat to the US.
The US intelligence community confirmed in an assessment in March that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.
Trump has increasingly relied on executive powers in governing domestically, and now he appears to be sidelining Congress in his foreign policy.
But with Republicans in control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, lawmakers have few tools to influence his military decision. Impeachment is almost out of the question.
President Trump sending U.S. troops to bomb Iran without the consent of Congress is a blatant violation of our Constitution. pic.twitter.com/pqzAeS4K19
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 22, 2025
No legal justification for strikes
Lawmakers have introduced bills under the War Powers Resolution to ban attacks on Iran without the approval of Congress, but Trump is likely to veto the proposals if they pass.
Congress could overturn the veto with two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate, but Trump’s strikes have enough support to make that outcome unlikely.
The US president has not provided a legal justification for the strikes, but he is likely to argue that he was responding to an urgent situation or cite an existing military authorisation.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Congress passed a law allowing then-President George W Bush to launch what would become the global “war on terror”.
Millions of people have been killed and societies devastated due to the US wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, among others, waged as part of the so-called “war on terror”. It has also cost trillions of dollars and the lives of thousands of US soldiers.
In 2002, lawmakers approved another authorisation to allow the invasion of Iraq a year later.
These laws, known as the Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF), remain in place, and previous presidents have invoked them to justify attacks that were not specifically approved by Congress.
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US programme of the International Crisis Group and former State Department lawyer, said the attack on Iran is “patently illegal”.
“Even under the prevailing executive branch doctrine, this is likely to constitute ‘war’ requiring congressional authorization,” he wrote in a social media post.
Statement from Rep. Ilhan Omar on U.S. Bombing of Iran:
“The strikes on Iran, ordered by President Trump and executed without congressional authorization, mark a dangerous and reckless escalation of an already volatile conflict in the Middle East.
Key progressive Senator Bernie Sanders was speaking at a rally in Oklahoma when Trump announced the attack.
As Sanders told the crowd about the US strikes, attendees started chanting: “No more war!”
“It is so grossly unconstitutional,” he said. “All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the US Congress; the president does not have that right.”
Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will be “demanding answers” from the administration.
“Tonight, the President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without Congressional authorization,” she said in a social media post.
It seems like just yesterday that United States President Donald Trump was pushing a “diplomatic resolution” to the Iranian nuclear issue.
Now, the US has joined Israel’s illegal assault on Iran, striking three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday in what Trump has boasted was a “very successful attack”.
As CNN dramatically put it, “a midsummer night in June 2025 could come to be remembered as the moment the Middle East changed forever; when the fear of nuclear annihilation was lifted from Israel; when Iran’s power was neutered and America’s soared”.
Of course, a “fear of nuclear annihilation” has nothing to do with Israel’s current strikes on Iran, which have been dutifully portrayed in the US media as targeting military and nuclear facilities but have somehow managed to slaughter hundreds of civilians. The victims include 23-year-old poet Parnia Abbasi, killed along with her family as they slept in their Tehran apartment building.
As is clear as day to anyone not in the business of defending Israeli depredations, the attacks on Iran are simply a war of convenience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is killing all sorts of birds with one stone in his campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities.
In addition to distracting the world from Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, where starving Palestinians continue to be massacred on a daily basis as they seek food and other aid, Netanyahu has also managed to divert attention from his own embroilment in numerous corruption charges at home.
Plus, the war on Iran is wildly popular among Israelis, which translates into big points for a prime minister who has faced significant domestic opposition.
Trump’s initial insistence on diplomacy with Iran naturally got Netanyahu’s panties into a giant bunch – but the situation has now been rectified by the midsummer night’s bombing, which, according to the president, has “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites.
To be sure, Iran has long occupied US crosshairs, with many an establishment figure salivating at the prospect of bombing the country to smithereens. Some have salivated more openly than others, as in the case of John Bolton – a former US ambassador to the United Nations and briefly the national security adviser in the first Trump administration – who in 2015 took to the opinion pages of The New York Times with the following advice: “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.”
That the editors of the US newspaper of record did not bat an eye in publishing such a blatant call for the violation of international law is indicative of the extent to which Iran has been thoroughly demonised in US society and media. Recall that in 2002, then-US President George W Bush appointed the nation to his infamous “axis of evil” along with Iraq and North Korea.
And yet, aside from being a persistent thorn in the side of US imperialism, Iran’s behaviour has been rather less apparently, um, “evil” than certain other international actors – like the US itself. For instance, Iran is not the one currently funding a straight-up genocide to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
Nor is Iran the one that has spent the past several decades bombing and otherwise antagonising folks in every corner of the world – from backing right-wing state terror in Latin America to conducting mass slaughter in Vietnam.
Furthermore, the sole clandestine nuclear weapons power in the Middle East is not Iran but Israel, which has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has never allowed UN safeguards on its facilities.
Those who applaud the strikes on Iran citing the “oppressive” nature of the Iranian government would, meanwhile, do well to revisit the US track record of fuelling oppression in the country. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup d’etat against Iran’s democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mossadegh, which paved the way for the extended reign of the torture-happy shah.
Historian Ervand Abrahamian notes in his book A History of Modern Iran: “Arms dealers joked that the shah devoured their manuals in much the same way as other men read Playboy.” Indeed, the shah’s obsessive acquisition of US weaponry did much to enable his rule by terror, which was put to an end by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. And the Iranian nuclear programme that Trump has now bombed? It was started by that very same shah.
Now, arms dealers are presumably not too upset over the midsummer night’s events and the general escalation of the crisis in the Middle East. For his part, Netanyahu has gone out of his way to thank Trump for his “bold decision” to go after Iran “with the awesome and righteous might of the United States”.
In Netanyahu’s words, Trump’s action will “change history” – as though making the world safe for more war is anything new. And as the US media scramble to justify illegal attacks on a sovereign nation, the sinister hypocrisy of two heavily nuclear-armed nations undertaking to police nuclear “threats” cannot be overstated.
It is anyone’s guess what Trump, who prides himself on spontaneous and manic behaviour, will do next. But rest assured that, whatever happens, the arms industry won’t be going hungry any time soon.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
United States President Donald Trump has announced the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites, as Washington effectively joined Israel’s war against Iran.
“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 wrote on his Truth Social platform, using a different spelling for Isfahan.
In a televised address early on Sunday, he said “the strikes were a spectacular military success”.
The US decision to intervene militarily to aid the Israeli attacks on Iran has prompted fears of a serious escalation across the Middle East and brought back memories of the devastation in Iraq following the 2003 US invasion. Israel launched unprecedented attacks on Iran on June 13, targeting its nuclear sites and top military commanders.
More than 400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Iran, while retaliatory strikes by Tehran have killed at least 24 people in Israel.
Here is what we know so far about the US attacks on Iran:
What areas has the US bombed in Iran?
The US used bunker-buster bombs to target three key nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – using the B2 bomber jets, according to US media reports.
“The strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump said in his televised address. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” he said, adding that “our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity”.
Al Jazeera could not immediately verify Trump’s claims independently.
Here’s what we know about the three nuclear sites:
Fordow, a highly fortified underground uranium enrichment facility, is reportedly buried hundreds of metres deep in the mountains near Qom, in northwestern Iran. This site is designed to hold up to 2,976 spinning centrifuges, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Natanz is Iran’s largest enrichment complex, containing vast halls of centrifuges, some underground. It has been a key hub of Iran’s nuclear programme and the site of multiple past sabotage attempts – and was hit by Israeli strikes on the first wave of attacks on June 13.
Isfahan is an important nuclear research and production centre that includes a uranium conversion facility and fuel fabrication plants. It plays a critical role in preparing raw materials for enrichment and reactor use.
For years, Israel and the US have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons but Iran maintains its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has also rejected claims that Tehran was on the verge of making atomic bombs, though the United Nations nuclear watchdog has expressed concerns against Iran’s decision to enrich uranium at up to 60 percent purity.
Tehran stepped up enrichment after Trump walked out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – in 2018 that had capped Iran’s nuclear activity.
What weapons did the US use in Iran?
Trump announced “massive precision strikes” but shared no specific details about the weapons used in the attack. However, US media reports suggested the US army dropped “bunker buster” bombs and navy submarines fired multiple cruise missiles.
The GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is the most powerful bunker buster bomb in the US military arsenal, weighing nearly 13,000kg (30,000 pounds). Bunker buster bombs can penetrate about 18 metres (59 feet) of concrete or 61 metres (200 feet) of earth, which a conventional bomb cannot reach.
The B-2 Spirit, a US stealth bomber, is currently the only aircraft designed to deploy the GBU-57 and can carry two bunker buster bombs at a time, which the air force says can drop multiple bombs sequentially, allowing each strike to burrow deeper.
The US intervention is seen as critical at this point for the Israeli campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities, especially Fordow, due to its depth. Israeli attacks had failed to destroy the site.
While nearly half a dozen B-2 bombers reportedly dropped a dozen 13,000kg bunker buster bombs on the Fordow site, navy submarines are said to have coordinated strikes by cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites, according to media reports.
This also marks the first time that the US used MOPs in combat.
What was the impact of US strikes?
Trump claimed “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated”.
Yet there is no independent verification yet of the extent of damage at the nuclear facilities.
Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the chairman of the Iranian parliament, claimed that the US attack was not surprising and that Iranian authorities had evacuated the Fordow facility in advance.
“Iran has been expecting strikes on Fordow for several days. This nuclear facility was evacuated, no irreversible damage was sustained during today’s attack,” Mohammadi said in a statement posted on X.
Confirming the attacks on Sunday, Iran’s nuclear agency said the radiation system data and field surveys do not show signs of contamination or danger to residents near the sites.
“Following the illegal US attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites, field surveys and radiation systems data showed: No contamination recorded,” the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said in a social media post. “There is no danger to residents around these sites. Safety is in a stable state.”
After the US bombing of its key nuclear facilities, the agency insisted that its work would not be stopped.
“The [agency] 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 of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” AEOI said in a statement.
The IAEA also did not find an increase in radiation levels near the targeted sites.
“Following attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran – including Fordow – the IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,” the agency said in a social media post on Sunday.
“IAEA will provide further assessments on situation in Iran as more information becomes available.”
Grossi said the IAEA will hold an emergency meeting on Monday in the wake of the attacks.
A satellite image shows trucks and bulldozers near the entrance to the Fordow nuclear facility, near Qom, Iran [File: Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters]
What has Iran said?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US “has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT by attacking Iran’s peaceful nuclear installations”.
Tehran has already threatened to walk away from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless, and criminal behavior,” said Araghchi in a statement posted on X.
“In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people,” he added.
Last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned the US against joining Israeli attacks on Iran. He said it would “result in irreparable consequences” for the US.
In his first televised address since Israel began its attacks on June 13, Khamenei said Iran “will not surrender to anyone” and “will stand firm against an imposed war, just as it will stand firm against an imposed peace”.
How will Iran retaliate against the US?
Condemning the US attacks, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday it had the right to resist such “aggression”.
“The world must not forget that it was the United States that, in the midst of a diplomatic process, betrayed diplomacy” by supporting Israel’s “aggressive action”, and is now waging “a dangerous war against Iran”, the ministry said in a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it its right to stand with all its might against US military aggression and the crimes committed by this rogue regime, and to defend the security and national interests of Iran,” it added.
Antonio Guterres, the UN chief, said he was gravely alarmed by the US attacks on Iran.
“This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” Guterres said.
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister said the time for diplomacy had passed and that his country had the right to defend itself.
“The warmongering, a lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far reaching implications of its act of aggression,” he said.
Stephen Zunes, the director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco, laid out several options available to Iran in response to the US attacks unfolding. “They can attack US forces directly. There are up to 40,000 Americans within the range, not just of Iranian missiles but of drones and other weaponry,” he said.
“You have the fleet in the Persian Gulf, just off the Iranian coast. They can be vulnerable as well if they attack,” Zunes said, using another name for the Gulf, which is also referred to as the Arabian Gulf. “It could impact global shipping, impacting oil prices and indeed the entire global economy.”
Zunes also pointed towards the “proxy militias in Iraq who could target American bases there”, adding that he would be “surprised if the Iranians don’t target at least some of these”.
On Sunday, Iran deployed one of its most advanced missiles, the Kheibar Shekan, as it carried out attacks on Israel.
Iran might also move towards withdrawing from the NPT. Abbas Golroo, the parliament foreign policy committee head, said Tehran has the legal right to withdraw from the NPT following the US attacks.
Article 10 states that an NPT member has “the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country”.
Adam Weinstein, the deputy director of the Middle East programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the US is now at risk of getting dragged into a prolonged war in the Middle East.
He noted that Iran has already indicated that it intends to continue with its nuclear programme.
“They’ll do it more secretly. They might exit the NPT, and, of course, the Israelis will say, ‘Well, this is why we need even more strikes.’ And there’s likely to be some sort of retaliation by the Iranians, or else the very legitimacy of their regime would be in question,” Weinstein said.
“And so this is how the escalation cycle starts. And so I’m very sceptical that it will be a one-off strike by the US. I think the US is at risk of being pulled into a war of choice with Iran that, unfortunately, it started.”
Trump, meanwhile, also issued more threats against Iran.
“Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight,” he said on social media, after the attacks against Iran.
Iran and Israel have exchanged a barrage of missiles after the United States bombed key Iranian nuclear sites, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Iran on Sunday launched two volleys of 27 missiles, targeting Israel’s main Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, research facilities, and command centres, an Iranian state news agency reported.
Air raid sirens were sounded across most of Israel, sending millions of people to safe rooms and bomb shelters as explosions and missile interceptions were seen above the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the port city of Haifa, and other parts of the country.
At least 20 people were wounded, according to Israeli emergency workers.
“This is certainly the first time that we have seen two volleys coming in such close succession. Usually, there are hours between each volley of missiles. This time, it was less than half an hour,” said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan.
The targeted areas spanned the occupied Golan Heights in Syria to the Upper Galilee to northern and central Israel, affecting 10 separate sites either directly by missiles or by large shrapnel, Odeh said.
“There is extensive damage in those sites, especially in the Tel Aviv area and Haifa,” Odeh said.
Videos from Tel Aviv and Haifa towards the 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.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it was investigating why no air raid warnings were sounded in Haifa.
Israel also carried out another wave of bombings on “military targets” in western Iran. The Israeli military earlier said its strikes destroyed Iranian missile launchers and targeted soldiers.
The latest exchange of missiles between the Middle Eastern enemies followed the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, with President Donald Trump saying the attacks had “obliterated” the three facilities.
Trump said Iran’s future held “either peace or tragedy” and that there were many other Iranian targets that could be hit. “If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” he said.
Iran responded by saying it “reserved all options” to defend itself and warned of “everlasting consequences” if the US joined the war.
In a statement, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the US attacks on its nuclear facilities as a “gross and unprecedented violation” of international law.
“The world must not forget that it was the United States that, in the midst of a diplomatic process, betrayed diplomacy” by supporting Israel’s “aggressive action”, and is now waging “a dangerous war against Iran,” the ministry said.
It has become clear that the US “adheres to no rules or ethics, and in order to advance the aims of a genocidal and occupying regime, spares no lawlessness or crime”, it added.
Meanwhile, Israel said it will temporarily reopen its airspace for flights from 11:00 GMT on Sunday as it repatriates thousands of citizens left stranded overseas by its war with Iran, the country’s airport authority said.
Ben Gurion Airport “will open for landings from 02:00pm-8:00pm as part of Operation Safe Return”, the authority said in a statement, referring to the government’s efforts to bring home citizens.
Most airlines continue to avoid large parts of the Middle East after the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, according to the flight tracking website, FlightRadar24.
