Alarm grows after the US inserts itself into Israel's war against Iran with strikes on nuclear sites
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world grappled Sunday with the United States inserting itself into Israel's war by attacking Iranian nuclear sites , an operation that raised urgent questions about what remained of Tehran’s nuclear program and how its weakened military might respond.
Experts warned that worldwide efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons by peaceful means would be at stake in the days ahead, while fears of a wider regional conflict loomed large. The price of oil rose as financial markets reacted.
Iran lashed out at the U.S. for crossing “a very big red line” with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. "decided to destroy diplomacy,” and that the Iranian military will decide the “timing, nature and scale” of a "proportionate response.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flew to Moscow to coordinate with close ally Russia.
Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said any country used by the U.S. to strike Iran ”will be a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
At first, the Trump administration indicated it wanted to restart diplomatic talks with Iran. “Let's meet directly,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “does not seek war.”
But President Donald Trump, who has warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against U.S. forces, later mused about the possibility of “regime change" in Iran.
The U.S. strikes, confirmed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, hit the Fordo and Natanz enrichment facilities, as well as the Isfahan nuclear site. Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around them.
Trump claimed the U.S. “completely and fully obliterated” the sites, but the Pentagon reported “sustained, extremely severe damage and destruction.” Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin said “the damage is deep,” but an assessment with the U.S. continued.
“We are very close to achieving our goals” in removing Iran's nuclear and missile threats, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday.
The head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the Security Council that no one was in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo, which is dug deep into a mountain, but visible craters tracked with the U.S. announcements. He said IAEA inspectors should be allowed to look at the sites. The IAEA's governing board planned an emergency meeting Monday.
Grossi stressed that a path for diplomacy remained, but if that fails, “violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels,” and global efforts at nuclear nonproliferation “could crumble.”
Satellite images analyzed Monday by The Associated Press appear to show at least one crater at the Natanz site. A hole of around 5 meters (16 feet) could be seen in images taken by Planet Labs PBC and Maxar Technologies on Sunday after the American strikes. That hole sits directly over the underground portion of the site, which includes centrifuge halls.
Iran has offered no assessment of how much damage has been done at the site. Previous Israeli strikes destroyed an above-ground centrifuge hall, as well as all of the power equipment at the site, likely cutting its electrical supply.
With the attack that Washington said was carried out without detection, the United States inserted itself into a war it spent decades trying to avoid. Success could mean ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions and eliminating the last significant state threat to the security of Israel, its close ally. Failure — or overreach — could plunge the U.S. into another long and unpredictable conflict..
For Iran’s supreme leader, it could mark the end of a campaign to transform the Islamic Republic into a greater regional power that holds enriched nuclear material a step away from weapons-grade levels. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last spoke publicly on Wednesday, warning the U.S. that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.”
Iran, battered by Israel’s largest-ever assault on it that began on June 13, has limited options for retaliation , as key allies have mostly stayed out of the conflict. It could attack U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East with the missiles and rockets that Israel hasn’t destroyed. It could attempt to close a key bottleneck for global oil supplies, the Strait of Hormuz, between it and Oman.
Or it could hurry to develop a nuclear weapon with what remains of its program. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said its program will not be stopped.
