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Iran-Israel war: latest developments
Jerusalem, June 22 (AFP) Jun 22, 2025
US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites "devastated" Iran's nuclear programme, the Pentagon said Sunday, as Washington insisted it was not seeking regime change in the Islamic republic following its intervention alongside Israel.

With the Iran-Israel in its 10th day, here are the latest developments:


- US intervention -


US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes ordered by President Donald Trump overnight had "devastated the Iranian nuclear programme", but "did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people".

Trump "seeks peace", Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding: "This mission was not, and has not, been about regime change."

Vice President JD Vance said Sunday the US air strikes had "set the Iranian nuclear programme back substantially last night, whether it's years or beyond.

"We're not at war with Iran -- we're at war with Iran's nuclear programme," he added in an interview with ABC.

Earlier, Trump said the US had carried out a "very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran", referring to Isfahan, Natanz and the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

Iranian media also said the three sites were hit.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said seven B-2 stealth bombers had flown 18 hours from mainland America to Iran, with multiple aerial refuellings, to carry out the attack.

Trump said that after the strikes, Iran "must now agree to end this war", insisting that under no circumstances should Iran possess a nuclear weapon.

The UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting Sunday following the US strikes.


- Iran says US decided to 'blow up' diplomacy -


Iran's top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, accused the United States of deciding to "blow up" diplomacy with its intervention in the war.

In a post on X, Araghchi said Israel had derailed nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington with its initial strikes on June 13. The US strikes on Sunday did the same to negotiations with European powers held this week.

Addressing European calls for Iran to return to negotiations, he asked: "How can Iran return to something it never left?"

At a news conference in Istanbul later, he said the United States and Israel had crossed a "big red line" by attacking Iran's nuclear sites.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the United States, saying the attack revealed it was the "main factor behind" Israel's military campaign in the Islamic republic.

He later appeared at a protest held in Tehran to denounce the strikes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of entering into "fake negotiations" ahead of the strikes in a bid to "play" Trump.

"I think the world today is safer and more stable than it was 24 hours ago," he told Fox News.

He said the United States would allow Iran to operate nuclear power plants, but not enrich its own fuel.


- Iran and Israel trade fire -


Iran's armed forces said they had 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.

Pezeshkian said in a call with French President Emmanuel Macron that the United States must also "receive a response to their aggression".

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.

Iran's Shargh newspaper reported a "massive explosion was heard" Sunday in Bushehr province, home to Iran's only nuclear power plant.

Fresh strikes were also heard in northern Tehran in the evening, according to an AFP journalist.

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 campaign, with over 120 residential units "fully destroyed" and 500 others damaged.


- Watchdog says 'no increase' in radiation -


The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not yet 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" at the organisation's headquarters in Vienna on Monday in response to the US strikes.


- Red Crescent says no deaths in 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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