US joins Israel's war against Iran, targets N-sites

Iran parliament votes to close Strait of Hormuz; final decision up to security body No increase in radiation off sites, says global nuclear energy watchdog

- REUTERS

The world awaited Iran's response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had "obliterated" Tehran's key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.

With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound US bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site, Tehran vowed to defend itself at all costs. It fired another volley of missiles at Israel that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv.

But perhaps in an effort to avert all-out war with the US superpower, it had yet to follow through on its main threats of retaliation against the United States itself — either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies.

Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said. "The US showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force," he said.

Trump, announcing the strikes in a televised address, called them "a spectacular military success". "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier," he said.

Still, his administration stressed that no order had been given for any wider war to overthrow the hardline Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since 1979.