Israeli security forces and first responders gather at the site of an Iranian strike that hit a residential neighbourhood in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025. At least 16 people were hurt and at least one impact was reported in central Israel after Iran launched two waves of missiles at the country following the US bombing of its nuclear sites, rescue services and reports said. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP)
JERUSALEM — US strikes “devastated” Iran’s nuclear programme, the Pentagon said Sunday, as Washington joined ally Israel’s bombing campaign.
While Washington insists the United States is not seeking to topple the government in the Islamic republic, comments by US President Donald Trump have been more ambivalent.
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With Iran vowing retaliation and the international community pushing to avert a wider conflagration in the region, here are the latest developments:
‘Regime change’
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes ordered by Trump had “devastated the Iranian nuclear programme”, but “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people”.
Trump “seeks peace”, Hegseth said at a press briefing, adding: “This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change.”
But Trump himself, in comments later Sunday, mulled the possibility.
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??? MIGA!!!”
Vice President JD Vance said the US air strikes had “set the Iranian nuclear programme back substantially”.
This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 15, 2025, shows a view of the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. President Donald Trump said US air strikes early on June 22 “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East. (Photo by Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP)
US strikes
The attack targeted Isfahan, Natanz and the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, with Iran’s media reporting that all three sites had been hit.
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said seven B-2 stealth bombers had flown 18 hours to drop 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs — a powerful 13,600-kilogram (30,000-pound) weapon.
READ: Iran threatens US bases in response to strikes on nuclear sites
Iran “must now agree to end this war”, said Trump, insisting that under no circumstances should it possess a nuclear weapon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “thanks to President Trump, we have moved closer to our goals”.
At a UN Security Council emergency meeting Sunday following the US strikes, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against “descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation”.
An anti-war protester holds up a sign during a demonstration near the White House in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2025, to protest against US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
‘Worldwide caution’
Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation.
“Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,” he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.
READ: Here’s how Iran could retaliate after US strikes on its nuclear program
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also vowed that the United States would “receive a response” to the attacks.The US State Department issued a “worldwide caution” for Americans on Sunday, saying the conflict in the Middle East could put those travelling or living abroad at increased risk.
“There is the potential for demonstrations against US citizens and interests abroad,” the State Department’s security alert said.
“The Department of State advises US citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution.”
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” facility, logistics bases and various layers of command and control centres, it said.
IRNA news agency said 40 missiles had been fired in Iran’s “20th wave” of strikes.
At least 23 people were wounded and police said at least three hits had been reported.
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain called on Iran “not to take any further action that could destabilise the region”.
The Israeli military said its “jets struck dozens of military targets throughout Iran” Sunday, including a long-range missile site in Yazd in the centre of the country.
The Tasnim news agency later reported nine Revolutionary Guard members had been killed in strikes on two military bases in the city.
Later Sunday, Iran media reported fresh Israeli strikes, one of which killed three people when it hit an ambulance.
Tehran governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian told state TV that “more than 200 locations have been attacked” across the capital since the start of Israel’s bombing campaign on June 13.
No radiation increase
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not detected any increase in radiation levels at key nuclear sites in Iran after the US strikes.
The UN body’s head, Rafael Grossi, said the IAEA would hold an “emergency meeting” on Monday in response to the US strikes.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that there had been no fatalities in the US attacks, state television reported.
Iran’s health ministry acknowledged that the strikes had wounded an unspecified number of people, but none “showed any signs of radioactive contamination” after seeking treatment.
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