Tel Aviv: Israel’s military said Monday it was striking around Iran’s western city of Kermanshah, as fears of a wider regional conflict loomed large after the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war by attacking Iranian nuclear sites.
The operation raised urgent questions about what remained of Tehran’s nuclear programme and how its weakened military might respond. The price of oil rose as financial markets reacted.
Iran lashed out at the US for crossing “a very big red line” with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
President Donald Trump, who has warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against US forces, has mused about the possibility of “regime change” in Iran, despite administration officials earlier indicating they wanted to restart talks with Iran. US 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 US 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.
North Korea condemns US strikes on Iran
North Korea says it “strongly condemns” the US 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 behaviour.”
During his first term, US 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 US-led sanctions against North Korea and the North’s steps to wind down its nuclear and missile programme.
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 US assessment on the strikes is still underway.
“The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!” he wrote.
US defence officials have said they are working to determine 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 US 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 US strikes early Sunday.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security published satellite images taken by Airbus it assessed, showing trucks dumping soil into tunnels at the site Friday.
The US attack likely targeted the tunnel entries, the group said.
“At least three of the four tunnel entrances are collapsed,” it said.
AP
