Iran has warned the United States to brace for retaliation after Donald Trump’s administration joined Israel in strikes against Tehran, tearing up his isolationist foreign policy. The US targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites, prompting Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to tell France’s Emmanuel Macron that “the Americans must receive a response to their aggression”.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, plans to fly to Moscow to meet Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, while an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader warned that any country used by the US to strike Iran “will be a legitimate target for our armed forces”. Acting US ambassador Dorothy Shear told an emergency UN Security Council meeting that “any Iranian attack – direct or indirect – against Americans or American bases will be met with devastating retaliation”.
The US acted in defence of Israel and to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Shear said. Iran’s UN ambassador called the strikes “a clear and flagrant breach of international law”, while Russia’s envoy said “the US has opened a Pandora’s box”. Vice-president JD Vance appeared to tone down Trump’s claim that the sites were “completely and totally obliterated”, conceding that the US may have only “substantially delayed” Iran’s nuclear programme.
World leaders urged restraint and a return to diplomacy. Western governments called for negotiations, while China and Russia condemned the strikes. Israel continued operations, claiming about 30 jets struck dozens of military targets, including the Imam Hussein strategic missile command centre. Iranian officials signalled they might consider disrupting maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz or launching strikes against one of dozens of possible targets.
