Photos: Iranian missiles hit Israel after US bombs Iran's nuclear sites
Published On 22 Jun 2025 22 Jun 2025
Iran has carried out a barrage of missile attacks against Israel, hours after the United States attacked key Iranian nuclear sites.
Loud explosions were heard in coastal hub Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Sunday shortly after the Israeli military reported incoming Iranian missiles and activated air defences.
Sirens rang in Israeli cities, with rescue services and media reports saying at least 20 people were injured.
Israeli police reported 'the fall of weapon fragments' in an area near the northern port of Haifa, where local authorities said emergency services were heading to an 'accident site'.
Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the southern city of Beersheba have been the three Israeli areas targeted by Iran frequently.
Reporting on missile strikes is subject to strict military censorship rules in Israel, where at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nationwide and 25 people have been killed since the war started on June 13, according to official figures.
Iran has warned of 'everlasting consequences' after President Donald Trump claimed the US attacks 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz.
Meanwhile, Iran's National Nuclear Safety System Centre and the United Nations nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), say there has been no increase in radiation levels following the US strikes.
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Al Jazeera
9 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
By bombing Iran, the US continues to make the world safe for war
It seems like just yesterday that United States President Donald Trump was pushing a 'diplomatic resolution' to the Iranian nuclear issue. Now, the US has joined Israel's illegal assault on Iran, striking three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday in what Trump has boasted was a 'very successful attack'. As CNN dramatically put it, 'a midsummer night in June 2025 could come to be remembered as the moment the Middle East changed forever; when the fear of nuclear annihilation was lifted from Israel; when Iran's power was neutered and America's soared'. Of course, a 'fear of nuclear annihilation' has nothing to do with Israel's current strikes on Iran, which have been dutifully portrayed in the US media as targeting military and nuclear facilities but have somehow managed to slaughter hundreds of civilians. The victims include 23-year-old poet Parnia Abbasi, killed along with her family as they slept in their Tehran apartment building. As is clear as day to anyone not in the business of defending Israeli depredations, the attacks on Iran are simply a war of convenience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is killing all sorts of birds with one stone in his campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities. In addition to distracting the world from Israel's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, where starving Palestinians continue to be massacred on a daily basis as they seek food and other aid, Netanyahu has also managed to divert attention from his own embroilment in numerous corruption charges at home. Plus, the war on Iran is wildly popular among Israelis, which translates into big points for a prime minister who has faced significant domestic opposition. Trump's initial insistence on diplomacy with Iran naturally got Netanyahu's panties into a giant bunch – but the situation has now been rectified by the midsummer night's bombing, which, according to the president, has 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear sites. To be sure, Iran has long occupied US crosshairs, with many an establishment figure salivating at the prospect of bombing the country to smithereens. Some have salivated more openly than others, as in the case of John Bolton – a former US ambassador to the United Nations and briefly the national security adviser in the first Trump administration – who in 2015 took to the opinion pages of The New York Times with the following advice: 'To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran.' That the editors of the US newspaper of record did not bat an eye in publishing such a blatant call for the violation of international law is indicative of the extent to which Iran has been thoroughly demonised in US society and media. Recall that in 2002, then-US President George W Bush appointed the nation to his infamous 'axis of evil' along with Iraq and North Korea. And yet, aside from being a persistent thorn in the side of US imperialism, Iran's behaviour has been rather less apparently, um, 'evil' than certain other international actors – like the US itself. For instance, Iran is not the one currently funding a straight-up genocide to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Nor is Iran the one that has spent the past several decades bombing and otherwise antagonising folks in every corner of the world – from backing right-wing state terror in Latin America to conducting mass slaughter in Vietnam. Furthermore, the sole clandestine nuclear weapons power in the Middle East is not Iran but Israel, which has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has never allowed UN safeguards on its facilities. Those who applaud the strikes on Iran citing the 'oppressive' nature of the Iranian government would, meanwhile, do well to revisit the US track record of fuelling oppression in the country. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup d'etat against Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mossadegh, which paved the way for the extended reign of the torture-happy shah. Historian Ervand Abrahamian notes in his book A History of Modern Iran: 'Arms dealers joked that the shah devoured their manuals in much the same way as other men read Playboy.' Indeed, the shah's obsessive acquisition of US weaponry did much to enable his rule by terror, which was put to an end by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. And the Iranian nuclear programme that Trump has now bombed? It was started by that very same shah. Now, arms dealers are presumably not too upset over the midsummer night's events and the general escalation of the crisis in the Middle East. For his part, Netanyahu has gone out of his way to thank Trump for his 'bold decision' to go after Iran 'with the awesome and righteous might of the United States'. In Netanyahu's words, Trump's action will 'change history' – as though making the world safe for more war is anything new. And as the US media scramble to justify illegal attacks on a sovereign nation, the sinister hypocrisy of two heavily nuclear-armed nations undertaking to police nuclear 'threats' cannot be overstated. It is anyone's guess what Trump, who prides himself on spontaneous and manic behaviour, will do next. But rest assured that, whatever happens, the arms industry won't be going hungry any time soon. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Al Jazeera
29 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Patently illegal': Critics dispute legality of Trump's Iran strikes
Washington, DC – As United States President Donald Trump lauded what he called the 'spectacular military success' of the strikes he authorised against Iran, Democrats were quick to accuse him of overstepping his authority. Numerous critics accused Trump late on Saturday of violating the US Constitution by launching military attacks against Iran's nuclear sites without the approval of Congress. 'Trump said he would end wars; now he has dragged America into one,' Senator Christopher Van Hollen Junior said in a statement. 'His actions are a clear violation of our Constitution – ignoring the requirement that only the Congress has the authority to declare war.' In the lead up to the US attacks, legislators from both main parties have pushed measures to compel Trump to approach Congress before launching any strikes. The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war or authorise the use of force for specific purposes. Trump's 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) base has also been vehement in its opposition to the US joining Israel's war. It has pointed out that Trump won the election on the promise not to commit Washington to yet another war in the Middle East. They want Trump to focus on domestic issues, particularly the economy. 'Grounds for impeachment' Lawmakers' authority over the military was further enshrined in the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which curbed the president's war-making powers. Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Trump violated the constitution and the War Powers Resolution. 'He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,' she said. The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, so he can order attacks, but his decisions must be within the guidelines of what is authorised by Congress. However, the president can order the military in the case of a 'sudden attack' or to respond to emergencies. Several Democrats were quick to note that Iran's nuclear facilities, which have been operating for years, did not pose an imminent threat to the US. The US intelligence community confirmed in an assessment in March that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. Trump has increasingly relied on executive powers in governing domestically, and now he appears to be sidelining Congress in his foreign policy. But with Republicans in control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, lawmakers have few tools to influence his military decision. Impeachment is almost out of the question. President Trump sending U.S. troops to bomb Iran without the consent of Congress is a blatant violation of our Constitution. — Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 22, 2025 No legal justification for strikes Lawmakers have introduced bills under the War Powers Resolution to ban attacks on Iran without the approval of Congress, but Trump is likely to veto the proposals if they pass. Congress could overturn the veto with two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate, but Trump's strikes have enough support to make that outcome unlikely. The US president has not provided a legal justification for the strikes, but he is likely to argue that he was responding to an urgent situation or cite an existing military authorisation. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Congress passed a law allowing then-President George W Bush to launch what would become the global 'war on terror'. Millions of people have been killed and societies devastated due to the US wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, among others, waged as part of the so-called 'war on terror'. It has also cost trillions of dollars and the lives of thousands of US soldiers. In 2002, lawmakers approved another authorisation to allow the invasion of Iraq a year later. These laws, known as the Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF), remain in place, and previous presidents have invoked them to justify attacks that were not specifically approved by Congress. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the US programme of the International Crisis Group and former State Department lawyer, said the attack on Iran is 'patently illegal'. 'Even under the prevailing executive branch doctrine, this is likely to constitute 'war' requiring congressional authorization,' he wrote in a social media post. Statement from Rep. Ilhan Omar on U.S. Bombing of Iran: 'The strikes on Iran, ordered by President Trump and executed without congressional authorization, mark a dangerous and reckless escalation of an already volatile conflict in the Middle East. 'Military strikes will not… — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 22, 2025 Key progressive Senator Bernie Sanders was speaking at a rally in Oklahoma when Trump announced the attack. As Sanders told the crowd about the US strikes, attendees started chanting: 'No more war!' 'It is so grossly unconstitutional,' he said. 'All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the US Congress; the president does not have that right.' Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will be 'demanding answers' from the administration. 'Tonight, the President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without Congressional authorization,' she said in a social media post.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Iran, Israel trade missiles as US bombing of nuclear sites escalates crisis
Iran and Israel have exchanged a barrage of missiles after the United States bombed key Iranian nuclear sites, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East. Iran on Sunday launched two volleys of 27 missiles, targeting Israel's main Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, research facilities, and command centres, an Iranian state news agency reported. Air raid sirens were sounded across most of Israel, sending millions of people to safe rooms and bomb shelters as explosions and missile interceptions were seen above the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the port city of Haifa, and other parts of the country. At least 20 people were wounded, according to Israeli emergency workers. 'This is certainly the first time that we have seen two volleys coming in such close succession. Usually, there are hours between each volley of missiles. This time, it was less than half an hour,' said Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan. The targeted areas spanned the occupied Golan Heights in Syria to the Upper Galilee to northern and central Israel, affecting 10 separate sites either directly by missiles or by large shrapnel, Odeh said. 'There is extensive damage in those sites, especially in the Tel Aviv area and Haifa,' Odeh said. Videos from Tel Aviv and Haifa towards the north showed rescue teams combing through debris, apartments reduced to rubble, mangled cars along a street filled with debris, and medics evacuating injured people from a row of blown-out houses. In a statement, the Israeli army said it was investigating why no air raid warnings were sounded in Haifa. Israel also carried out another wave of bombings on 'military targets' in western Iran. The Israeli military earlier said its strikes destroyed Iranian missile launchers and targeted soldiers. The latest exchange of missiles between the Middle Eastern enemies followed the US bombing of Iran's nuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, with President Donald Trump saying the attacks had 'obliterated' the three facilities. Trump said Iran's future held 'either peace or tragedy' and that there were many other Iranian targets that could be hit. 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,' he said. Iran responded by saying it 'reserved all options' to defend itself and warned of 'everlasting consequences' if the US joined the war. In a statement, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the US attacks on its nuclear facilities as a 'gross and unprecedented violation' of international law. 'The world must not forget that it was the United States that, in the midst of a diplomatic process, betrayed diplomacy' by supporting Israel's 'aggressive action', and is now waging 'a dangerous war against Iran,' the ministry said. It has become clear that the US 'adheres to no rules or ethics, and in order to advance the aims of a genocidal and occupying regime, spares no lawlessness or crime', it added. Meanwhile, Israel said it will temporarily reopen its airspace for flights from 11:00 GMT on Sunday as it repatriates thousands of citizens left stranded overseas by its war with Iran, the country's airport authority said. Ben Gurion Airport 'will open for landings from 02:00pm-8:00pm as part of Operation Safe Return', the authority said in a statement, referring to the government's efforts to bring home citizens. Most airlines continue to avoid large parts of the Middle East after the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, according to the flight tracking website, FlightRadar24.
