US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites had “devastated” Iran’s nuclear programme, the Pentagon said Sunday with Washington asserting it was not seeking regime change in the Islamic republic following its intervention alongise Israel.
As the Iran-Israel war entered its 10th day, here are the latest developments:
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes ordered by President Donald Trump overnight had “devastated” Iran’s nuclear programme and urged Iranian leaders to seek peace to avoid further attacks.
“We devastated the Iranian nuclear programme,” Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people”.
Trump “seeks peace, and Iran should take that path,” he said. “This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change.”
Earlier, Trump said the US carried out a “very successful attack” on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, referring to Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site,” Fordo, he said, adding the planes were safely out of Iranian airspace and on the way home.
Iranian media said the Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were hit.
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said seven B-2 stealth bombers flew 18 hours from mainland America to Iran, with multiple aerial refuellings, to carry out the attack.
“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission. We retained the element of surprise,” the top general said.
Trump said that, after the strikes, Iran “must now agree to end this war”, insisting that under no circumstances should Iran possess a nuclear weapon.
– Iran says US decided to ‘blow up’ diplomacy –
Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, accused the United States of deciding to “blow up”, diplomacy with its intervention into the war alongside Israel.
In a post on X, Araghchi said Israel blew up negotiations between Tehran and Washington with its strikes on June 13, while the United States did the same to talks with European powers this week with its strikes on Sunday.
Addressing European calls for Iran to return to negotiations, he asked: “How can Iran return to something it never left?”
Later at a news conference in Istanbul, he said the United States and Israel had crossed a “big red line” by attacking Iran’s nuclear sites.
“There is no red line that they have not crossed. And the last one, and the most dangerous one, happened only last night. They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities,” said Araghchi.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the United States, saying the attack revealed it was the “main factor behind” Israel’s military campaign in the Islamic republic.
– Iran and Israel trade fire –
Iran’s armed forces said they targeted multiple sites in Israel, including Ben Gurion airport, after the US attacks.
The targets also included a “biological research centre”, logistics bases and various layers of command and control centres, it said.
IRNA news agency said 40 missiles were fired in Iran’s “20th wave” of strikes.
At least 23 people were wounded and police said at least three impacts were reported.
“Houses here were hit very, very badly,” said Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai. “Fortunately, one of them was slated for demolition and reconstruction, so there were no residents inside.
“Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well. The damage is very, very extensive, but in terms of human life, we are okay.”
The Israeli military said it had launched its own fresh waves of strikes in western Iran and in Qom, south of Tehran. IRNA reported four Revolutionary Guard members were killed in strikes on a military base in the north of the city.
Iran’s Shargh newspaper reported a “massive explosion was heard” Sunday in Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant, while the Fars news agency said Israel attacked two locations.
– Watchdog says ‘no increase’ in radiation –
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not detected any increase in radiation levels at key nuclear sites in Iran following the US strikes.
“Following attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran… the IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,” the watchdog said on X.
The UN body’s head, Rafael Grossi, said the IAEA would hold an “emergency meeting” at the organisation’s headquarters in Vienna on Monday in response to the US strikes.
– Red Crescent says no deaths in US strikes –
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said there were no fatalities in the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Fortunately, we did not have any martyrs in last night’s events of the US aggression against Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he said according to state television.
