According to Israel’s military, they launched strikes near the western Iranian city of Kermanshah on Monday. This action comes amid growing concerns of a broader regional conflict, especially after the United States became involved by targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
This operation has sparked pressing questions regarding the current state of Tehran’s nuclear program and how its lessened military capacity might react. Oil prices surged as financial markets responded to the unfolding situation.
Iran strongly criticized the U.S., accusing it of crossing “a very big red line” with its bold move to hit three sites using missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
President Donald Trump, who has warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against U.S. forces, has mused about the possibility of “regime change ″ in Iran, despite administration officials earlier indicating they wanted to restart talks with Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with CBS, said: “Let’s meet directly.”
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.
Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East.
Here is the latest:
North Korea condemns U.S. strikes on Iran
North Korea says it “strongly condemns” the U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling it an egregious violation of Iran’s territorial integrity and security interests.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday that the United States and Israel were escalating tensions in the Middle East through the use of military force, and called on the “just-minded international community” to raise a unified voice against their “confrontational behavior.”
During his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times in 2018 and 2019, but their diplomacy collapsed over disagreements in exchanging the release of U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s steps to wind down its nuclear and missile program.
Kim has since accelerated his arms development while ignoring talk offers by Washington and Seoul.
He has shifted the priority of his foreign policy to Russia, sending thousands of troops and huge shipments of military equipment to fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Trump claims ‘monumental damage’ inflicted on Iranian nuclear sites
President Donald Trump asserted on his Truth Social platform that Iran’s nuclear sites sustained “monumental damage” in the American attack, though a U.S. assessment on the strikes is still underway.
“The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!” he wrote.
U.S. defense officials have said they are working to determine about just how much damage the strikes did.
Iran as well has not said how much damage was done in the attack, though Tehran has not offered any details so far on the strikes it has faced from Israel in its war with that country.
Iran likely filled in tunnels at nuclear sites ahead of U.S. strikes
An analysis of satellite photos by a nuclear nonproliferation group based in Washington shows Iran likely filled in tunnels at its nuclear site at Isfahan ahead of U.S. strikes early Sunday.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security published satellite images taken by Airbus it assessed showed trucks dumping soil into tunnels at the site on Friday.
The U.S. attack likely targeted the tunnel entries, the group said.
“At least three of the four tunnel entrances are collapsed,” it said. “The status of the fourth one is unclear.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
