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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 program and how its weakened military might respond. The price of oil rose as financial markets reacted.
Iran lashed out at the U.S. 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 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:
Israeli drone downed in Iran
The Israeli military said one of its drones was downed during an operation on Monday morning in Iran.
The military also said 15 fighter jets struck missile launchers and storage sites in western Iran, close to the border with Iraq.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday Israel was “very close to achieving our goals” in removing Iran’s nuclear and missile threats.
Iran's judiciary says it executed another alleged Mossad spy
Iran on Monday hanged a third man accused of being a spy of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service since Israel’s war on the Islamic Republic began.
Activists fear more people will be executed in Iran, particularly after its theocracy issued a Sunday deadline for people to turn themselves in over spying.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency identified the executed man as Mohammad Amin Mahdavi Shayesteh. Amnesty International previously had raised his case, saying he was held in Ghezal Hesar prison in Iran’s Alborz province.
On Sunday, Iran hanged another man, Majid Mossayebi, whose case only became public after his execution.
On June 16, Iran hanged Esmail Fekri.
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.”
