But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.
“At this time, no one, including the (International Atomic Energy Agency), is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo,” said U.N. nuclear chief Rafael Grossi.
President Donald Trump announced the strikes. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. Iran's foreign minister said Iran reserves the right to retaliate.
Here is the latest:
Israel says world must guarantee the threat of a nuclear Iran never returns
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by Iran that the U.S. strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities “removed the greatest existential threat facing the free world.”
He said diplomacy was tried over and over but claimed Iran “used the negotiating table as camouflage, a delay tactic, a way to buy time while building missiles and enriching uranium.”
Danon said Israel gave Iran years, but it wouldn’t move, so Israel acted and “when the world stood at the edge of a nuclear catastrophe, America stepped forward.”
Now the world must ensure Iran is never a nuclear threat again, he said.
France mobilizes military planes to evacuate its citizens in Israel
France is mobilizing military planes to help evacuate its citizens from Israel to Cyprus if the Israeli government allows it, the French Foreign Ministry said Sunday night.
The French government repatriated 160 French citizens in emergency or vulnerable condition on an evacuation flight from Jordan on Sunday, and plans similar flights Monday and Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
The flights were announced after French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting about the Mideast wars Sunday night.
France has warned its citizens against traveling to Israel, and urged all French citizens in Iran to leave.
France’s government faced some criticism for not arranging repatriation flights immediately after Israel’s strikes on Iran earlier this month.
US warns Iran not to escalate military action
Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shear reiterated President Donald Trump’s warning at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that “any Iranian attack – direct or indirect – against Americans or American bases will be met with devastating retaliation.”
She said at the meeting called by Iran that the U.S. acted in defense of Israel and American citizens to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon after it “obfuscated” about its nuclear weapons program and “stonewalled good-faith efforts in recent negotiations.”
Shea urged the Security Council to call on Iran to end its 47-year effort to eradicate Israel, terminate its nuclear program, stop targeting Americans and U.S. interests and “negotiate peace in good faith.”
Homeland Security warns of possible cyber attacks and violence
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism bulletin Sunday warning of possible cyber attacks and violence, including antisemitic hate crimes, following U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
The department said there are “no specific credible threats against the homeland,” but noted the Iranian government has condemned the U.S. action.
“A heightened threat environment across the United States” is expected to last throughout the summer, the bulletin said.
Russia accuses US of gambling `with the safety and well being of humanity as a whole’
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities that “the U.S. has opened a Pandora’s box” and “No one knows what new catastrophes and suffering it will bring.”
He said Russia offered its mediation to the U.S. to find a peaceful and mutually agreeable solution to Iran’s nuclear program, but the United States, especially its leaders, are “clearly not interested in diplomacy today.”
“Unless we stop the escalation,” Nebenzia warned, “the Middle East will find itself on the verge of a large scale conflict with unpredictable consequences for the entire international security system, plus the entire world might end up on the verge of a nuclear disaster.”
Iran says its military will decide `timing, nature and scale’ of its response to US attacks
Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that it called after U.S. strikes on three of its nuclear facilities that “Iran had repeatedly warned the warmongering U.S. regime to refrain from stumbling into this quagmire.”
He accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of succeeding in getting U.S. President Donald Trump to do the West’s “dirty work” and hijack U.S. foreign policy, “dragging the United States into yet another costly and baseless war.”
Iravani called U.S. and Israeli aggression against Iran “a clear and flagrant breach of international law,”
He said that as Iran’s foreign minister held talks this week with several European counterparts, “the United States decided to destroy that diplomacy.”
“What conclusion can be drawn from this situation?,” Iravani asked. “From the perspective of Western countries, Iran must `return to the negotiating table.’ But, as Iran’s foreign minister mentioned, `how can Iran return to something it never left -- let alone.’
Trump says he’s open to regime change in Iran
President Donald Trump suggested that could he see Iran rejecting its government leadership, after officials in his administration stressed that the White House was not seeking a regime change.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Trump posted on social media. “MIGA!!!”
The statement marked something of a reversal from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Sunday morning news conference when he said that regime change was not part of the mission in the aerial bombardment of three Iranian nuclear sites.
US boosts emergency Mideast evacuations and travel warnings
The State Department has doubled the number of emergency evacuation flights it is providing for American citizens wishing to leave Israel. It also ordered the departure of nonessential staff from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and is stepping up travel warnings around the Middle East amid concerns Iran will retaliate against U.S. interests in the region.
In internal and public notices, the department over the weekend significantly ramped up its cautionary advice to Americans in the Mideast.
In a notice on Sunday, after American strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, the department said it had ordered nonessential personnel and the families of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon "due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region."
UN nuclear chief: `violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels’ if diplomacy fails
Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites threaten a widening of the Israel-Iran conflict but also offer a return to diplomacy.
“If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels, and the global nonproliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall,” the International Atomic Energy Agency director general said.
Grossi urged a return to diplomacy, and for Iran to allow IAEA inspectors to go back to its nuclear sites to account, most importantly, for the 4,400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%.
He said IAEA inspectors are in Iran but need a cessation of hostilities to go to nuclear sites, assess damage, and protect nuclear materials and equipment
UN nuke chief says damage at Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant at Fordo can't yet be assessed
Rafael Grossi told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by Iran that craters are visible at the Fordo site, indicating the U.S. use of ground penetrating munitions, but the underground damage cannot be assessed yet.
At the Isfahan site, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said additional buildings were hit, some related to converting uranium, and “entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit.”
At the Natanz nuclear enrichment site, Grossi said the fuel enrichment plant has been hit again.
“At this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo,” Grossi said.
U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca told the council that Iranian state media reported that the three sites had been evacuated and the highly enriched uranium stockpile was transferred in advance of the U.S. strikes
Trump says US with its strikes took a nuclear bomb out of Iran’s ‘hands’
Pushing back against criticism by a Republican lawmaker, President Donald Trump said the U.S. had taken “the ‘bomb’” away from Iran by striking three nuclear sites.
Trump on Sunday posted an extended censure of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has said that Trump needed congressional approval to launch the aerial attack.
“We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the “bomb” right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!),” Trump said on Truth Social.
The U.S. president said Massie is not part of his “Make America Great Again” movement.
Massie “is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him.”
UN chief warns the world risks `descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation’
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by Iran that “We cannot – and must not – give up on peace.”
He urged immediate and decisive action to halt the fighting and return to “serious, sustained negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program to find a verifiable solution with full access by U.N. nuclear inspectors and a restoration of trust.
In urging a return to diplomacy and a peaceful solution, Guterres stressed Sunday that one path leads to wider war and the other to de-escalation and dialogue. “We know which path is right,” he said.
France holds emergency security meeting
French President Emmanuel Macron is urging a return to dialogue and diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, after U.S. strikes that herald a ″new phase″ in the wars in the Middle East.
Presiding over an emergency security meeting in Paris on Sunday evening, Macron said, ″We are living through a grave time for the stability and security for the Middle East, and for our own security.″
Macron spoke with Iran’s president Saturday and Sunday as well as with other Mideast and European leaders, and said he called on everyone to avoid escalation.
″No strictly military response will bring the sought-after results,″ he said.
Macron speaks regularly to Trump but did not mention the U.S. president in his remarks. Macron, Trump and other world leaders are expected to meet at a NATO summit in the Netherlands in the coming days.
New Revolutionary Guard commander says Iran going through ‘sensitive phase’
A new commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard says that “today, we are truly going through a sensitive phase.”
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour spoke in a video released Sunday by Iran’s military.
Pakpour asserted that with the bombings, “the people’s solidarity increases. This is a divine blessing.”
He spoke of “martyrs” but without specifics on a toll.
Israel to resume outgoing flights
The Israel Airports Authority says 24 daily outgoing flights will start operating on Monday, after the country’s airspace was closed for departures since the start of the war with Iran. For the past week, a similar number of daily incoming flights has been bringing back Israelis stranded abroad.
In a briefing with reporters, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said that out of safety concerns, each departing flight will carry no more than 50 passengers, allowing roughly 1000 people to leave each day.
It wasn’t clear who will be eligible for the flights, but she says an exceptions committee will ensure priority for “humanitarian cases.”
The Tourism Ministry said that as of Thursday, some 22,000 foreign tourists had requested help in leaving Israel. Those who do not want to wait for flights can cross into neighboring Jordan or Egypt.
Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority says some 65,000 Israelis have have returned to Israel since the start of the war by air, sea, and through the land crossings from Egypt and Jordan.
B-2 bombers returning to US base
The stealth bombers that dropped massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities have begun returning to a U.S. base in Missouri.
An Associated Press journalist watched on a clear but windy Sunday afternoon as at least seven of the B-2 Spirit bombers came in for landing at Whiteman Air Force Base.
A first group of four of the stealth aircraft did a loop around the base before approaching a runway from the north. A final group of three arrived within 10 minutes.
U.S. officials have said that one B-2 group headed west from the Missouri base on Saturday, intended as a decoy to throw off Iranians. Another flight of seven quietly flew off eastward, ultimately engaging in the Iran mission.
By Nicholas Ingram and Meg Kinnard
Israel’s military chief says the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear sites was a key ‘turning point'
Lt. Gen. Eyal Amir says Israel’s ongoing operation against Iran, coupled with the American attack, has caused “significant damage” to its nuclear program. “We’ve reached a turning point in the campaign, following last night’s very precise and impressive strike by the U.S. military on key nuclear sites,” he says. The army’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, adds that Israel and the U.S. are working together to assess the damage to Iran’s nuclear program. “The damage is deep. We’re continuing to gather intelligence together with our partners to assess the depth.”
UN notes ‘chilling pattern’ of Israeli troops firing on crowds seeking food in Gaza
The U.N.’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said Sunday that it is witnessing “a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food” in Gaza.
Israel began allowing food into Gaza this past month after cutting it off completely for 10 weeks. Most of the supplies go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed private contractor, which operates four food distribution points inside Israeli military zones.
A trickle of aid goes to the U.N. and humanitarian groups. Israeli troops open fire in the direction of crowds crossing military zones to get to the aid, they say. So far, 450 people have been killed while trying to access aid, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
“Those who are shot are often out of reach of ambulances,” said Jonathan Whittall, OCHA’s Head of Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that some are still missing and presumed dead in militarized zones near U.S.-Israeli distribution points.
Hezbollah condemns US strikes on Iran
The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah condemned the U.S. strikes on Iran in a statement Sunday but did not threaten to join in Tehran's retaliation.
“The blatant deceit and deception practiced by US President Donald Trump, driven by illusions of control and arrogance ... confirms that the United States of America, along with the tyrants of arrogance, is a threat to the security and stability of the Islamic Republic,” the statement said. ”... This proves to the entire world that America is the official sponsor of terrorism and does not recognize international conventions, humanitarian laws, pledges, or obligations.”
The U.S. considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist group.
It called for “Arab and Islamic countries and the free peoples of the world” to stand with Iran.
UK, France and Germany urge Iran not to retaliate for US strikes
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on Iran’s leaders to enter negotiations and “not to take any further action that could destabilize the region.”
In a joint statement after holding talks Sunday, they said: “We will continue our joint diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions and ensure the conflict does not intensify and spread further.”
The three leaders stressed that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and can no longer pose a threat to regional security,” and affirmed support for Israel’s security, but stopped short of endorsing the American strikes.
Just a day before the U.S. struck, top diplomats from the three countries and the European Union met Iran’s foreign minister in an attempt to find a diplomatic way to end the conflict with Israel and ease tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Sen. Tim Kaine chides Trump administration for not notifying Congress before attacks
Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said the act violated the U.S. Constitution.
“The United States should not be in an offensive war against Iran without a vote of Congress,” Kaine said. “The Constitution is completely clear on it. And I am so disappointed that the president has acted so prematurely.“
Kaine said he would force a floor vote in the Senate this week on a resolution that would require a vote ahead of military action against Iran. “This is the U.S. jumping into a war of choice at Donald Trump’s urging, without any compelling national security interests for the United States to act in this way, particularly without a debate and vote in Congress,” he added.
US official: One of the B-2 pilots was a woman
Hegseth said Sunday that “our boys in those bombers are on their way home right now.”
But a U.S. official tells The Associated Press that a woman was among those piloting the seven B-2 bombers that dropped the powerful bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Officials have said each bomber had two crew members aboard. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the mission publicly.
US orders non-essential diplomats to leave Lebanon after US strikes in Iran
The State Department has ordered non-essential personnel and the families of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon to leave as concerns mount about Iranian retaliation for American strikes in Iran.
In a notice issued on Sunday, the department said it had taken the step “due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
The notice made no mention of any potential evacuation flights or other assistance for private Americans wanting to leave Lebanon but said they should try to use existing commercial services to depart. The US has already organized several evacuations of American citizens from Israel and is advising American citizens in Iran on how to leave the country.
Residents fleeing Tehran say many heeded Israeli warnings to leave
At Turkey’s border with Iran, Ferishteh Husseini said many residents had left Tehran following a warning from Israel to evacuate the city.
“Tehran is empty, there is no one,” she said as she crossed into Turkey. The Israeli airstrikes were mainly targeting military facilities, not civilian ones, but many people were still suffering, she said. Husseini said people were living in groups of 10-20 in one house and supplies were running short.
Another Tehran resident, Emir Rustemi, said he arrived at the border by bus and witnessed several roadblocks on the way.
Behnam Puran, from Tabriz, defended his country’s nuclear program. “We were minding our own business,” he said. “We were doing these procedures to gain electricity, not to produce bombs.”
Rubio discounts criticism of US strikes from other countries
“And a bunch of these countries putting out statements condemning us, privately, they all agree with us that this needed to be done. They got to do what they got to do for their own public relations purposes. But the only people in the world that are unhappy about what happened in Iran last night is the regime in Iran,” Rubio said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
He urged Iran to enter direct talks with the U.S. and said Trump’s administration has no objection to a civilian nuclear program.
“They don’t even talk to us directly. We always have to have a middleman. They want to pass messages and notes like we’re in third grade. We’re not doing that anymore. Direct negotiations,” Rubio said.
“Let’s talk about how we peacefully resolve this problem.” He thanked Washington’s European allies for pressing Iran to engage in face-to-face talks.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the next steps are up to the Iranian government
“If the regime wants peace, we’re ready for peace. If they want to do something else, they’re incredibly vulnerable. They can’t even protect their own airspace,” Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
Rubio also warned against Iranian attacks on countries in the region that host American military forces.
“That’s exactly why they are there. All those bases are there because those countries are afraid Iran will attack them,” Rubio said. “Those bases are there because those countries are petrified.”
3 Revolutionary Guards killed in an Israeli strike, Iranian media say
An Israeli airstrike killed three members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, semiofficial news agencies in the Islamic Republic reported Sunday.
The Mehr and Tasnim news agencies reported the attack took place in Zanjan province.
Israel’s military said it struck sites around multiple cities in Iran
One major target claimed by the Israelis was the Imam Hussein Strategic Missile Command Center in Yazd. Social media footage showed orange smoke rising after one Israeli strike on the area. It could be the result of ammonium perchlorate, a missile fuel component, burning.
The Israeli military said other strikes targeted missile launchers in Ahvaz, Bushehr and Isfahan.
Iran has not offered any details on the damage it has sustained in the Israeli bombardment.
Ex-US diplomat in charge of Mideast believes there’s still a chance for negotiations
Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near-Eastern affairs under President Joe Biden, told The Associated Press that the top priority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been “the preservation of the Islamic Republic, preservation of the theocratic style of governance and the regime itself.”
“If the regime feels that its existence is at stake, it will use any weapons that come to hand, whether the arsenal of ballistic missiles, depleted conventional forces, terrorism, asymmetrical attacks,” she said.
“But it has clearly signaled throughout the nine days of this conflict with Israel that it is trying to avoid a second front, and that is a front with the U.S. So really at this moment, how the U.S. comports itself, I think will be the decisive factor.”
Vance says he isn’t worried about a ‘protracted conflict’ with Iran
U.S. Vice President JD Vance says America has “no interest in boots on the ground” in Iran, saying that he doesn’t believe the strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites would lead to a wider war.
“We have no interest in boots on the ground,” Vance said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t fear that this is going to become a protracted conflict.”
Vance still stressed that there is a chance for Iran to engage in talks about its future, saying that the attacks created the environment for a “reset” of relations.
“We want to end their nuclear program and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here,” Vance said. “This a reset. This is an opportunity for the Iranians to take the smart path. We certainly hope that they will.”
Vance presses Iran to ‘go down the path of peace’
U.S. Vice President JD Vance says that the U.S. “didn’t blow up” diplomacy with its attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that talks over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program were never given a real chance by Tehran.
“And our hope … is that this maybe can reset here. The Iranians can go down the path of peace or they can go down the path of this ridiculous brinksmanship of funding terrorism, of trying to build a nuclear weapon and that’s just not something the United States can accept,” Vance said.
He reiterated that the U.S. wasn’t at war with Iran, has no interest in a protracted conflict or boots on the ground. Vance says he felt “very confident that we’ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon,” and it would be “many, many years” before Iran could develop a nuclear weapon.
Hegseth says US intervention in Israel’s war with Iran is not open-ended
In concluding his briefing, the U.S. defense chief attempted to once again reiterate an unwillingness for America’s intervention in Iran to turn into a protracted war and labeled the overnight strikes as “intentionally limited.”
“I would just say, as the president has directed and made clear, this is most certainly not open-ended,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding that it doesn’t limit U.S. ability to respond and it will do so if necessary.
“The most powerful military in the world is postured and prepared to defend our people,” Hegseth said.
A Pentagon-provided map shows the path of B-2 bombers
A Pentagon-provided map of the flight path taken by B-2 stealth bombers indicates that their approach to Iran took them over the Mediterranean and then over Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
It is not immediately clear when those three countries were made aware of the flights. Israel has said the U.S. strikes were carried out in coordination with its military. The U.S. said the strikes did not involve Israeli jets.
The Pentagon released the map to journalists as it gave details of the mission, which it described as causing “extremely severe damage and destruction” to three Iranian nuclear sites.
US and Iranian officials say both countries are exchanging messages
Hours after Iran’s top diplomat disclosed that the line of communication between Washington and Tehran remains open, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed his remarks in a press conference.
“I can only confirm that there are both public and private messages being directly delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the table,” Hegseth said.
US military increases protective measures for US troops in the Middle East
As the U.S. and the region await Iran’s response to the overnight strikes, Hegseth said that military generals have elevated force protection measures across the region, especially in Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf.
“Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice,” Hegseth told reporters.
Pentagon stresses that ‘regime change’ was not goal of Iranian strike
The Trump administration said that its attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities was not about toppling the country’s government.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Sunday news briefing.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stressed that the goal of “Operation Midnight Hammer” had destroyed the nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said.
Hegseth says US military used decoys and deception in Iran attack
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Sunday that despite a surprise attack overnight on Iranian nuclear sites, America “does not seek war.”
Hegseth said it was important to note that U.S. strikes did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people, a veiled effort to indicate to Iran that they don’t want retaliation on American targets in the region.
Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians.
He added that the U.S. used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s most powerful nuclear site. He said that all of these tactics helped the U.S. drop the bombs without tipping off Iran’s fighter jets or its air missile systems.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP