IAEA chief calls 'emergency meeting' for Monday after US strikes on Iran
The head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced an "emergency meeting" at the organisation's headquarters in Vienna for Monday (Jun 23) after the US struck Iranian nuclear sites.
After US President Donald Trump decided to join Israel's campaign against Tehran's atomic programme, the United States on Sunday bombarded three nuclear sites in Iran, including a uranium-enriching facility at Fordo located 90 metres underground.
"In light of the urgent situation in Iran, I am convening an emergency meeting of the @IAEAorg Board of Governors for tomorrow," Rafael Grossi wrote on X on Sunday.
The meeting will start at 10am (4pm, Singapore time) at the agency's Vienna headquarters.
Trump said the US air strikes, which he said were aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb, though Tehran fiercely denies wanting to do so, "totally obliterated" the Islamic republic's main atomic sites.
Speaking to American broadcaster CNN, Grossi said that there were clear signs of the strikes at Fordo, citing satellite images and the IAEA's understanding of the underground facility, which UN inspectors regularly visit.
However he said it was too early to judge the extent of the damage.
At Natanz, by contrast, the Israeli and US strikes had clearly destroyed the above-ground portion of the facility, he added.
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CNA
42 minutes ago
- CNA
Iran threatens US bases in response to strikes on nuclear sites
WASHINGTON: Iran on Sunday (Jun 22) threatened US bases in the Middle East after massive air strikes that Washington said had destroyed Tehran's nuclear programme, though some officials cautioned that the extent of damage was unclear. International concern focused on fears that the unprecedented US attacks would deepen conflict in the volatile region after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this month. Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation. "Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces," he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency. "America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences." US President Donald Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched surprise strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz. "We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the 'bomb' right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)" he said on social media. And while Trump did not directly advocate regime change in the Islamic republic, he openly played with the idea - even after his aides stressed that was not a goal of American intervention. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing earlier that Iran's nuclear programme had been "devastated," adding the operation "did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people". Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that while it would be "way too early" for him to determine the level of destruction, "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction". Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said his country's military strikes will "finish", once the stated objectives of destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities have been achieved. TEHRAN PROTESTS As Iran's leaders struck defiant tones, President Masoud Pezeshkian also vowed that the US would "receive a response" to the attacks. People gathered on Sunday in central Tehran to protest against US and Israeli attacks, waving flags and chanting slogans. In the province of Semnan east of the capital, 46-year-old housewife Samireh told AFP she was "truly shocked" by the strikes. "Semnan province is very far from the nuclear facilities targeted, but I'm very concerned for the people who live near," she said. In an address to the nation hours after the attack, Trump claimed success for the operation, and US Vice President JD Vance followed up on Sunday morning. "We know that we set the Iranian nuclear programme back substantially last night," Vance told ABC. But he also suggested Iran still had its highly enriched uranium. "We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel," he said. "They no longer have the capacity to turn that stockpile of highly enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium." Another Khamenei advisor, Ali Shamkhani, said in a post on X that "even if nuclear sites are destroyed, game isn't over, enriched materials, indigenous knowledge, political will remain". Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that attacks on nuclear facilities could cause radiation leaks, but the IAEA had not detected any. RETALIATION RISK Israel's military was checking results of the US raid on the deeply buried nuclear facility in Fordow, with a spokesman saying it was uncertain if Iran had already removed enriched uranium from the site. The main US strike group was seven B-2 Spirit bombers that flew 18 hours from the American mainland to Iran. Trump said on Sunday the planes had landed safely on US soil after the marathon mission. In response to the attack, which used over a dozen massive " bunker-buster" bombs, Iran's armed forces targeted sites in Israel, including Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, with at least 23 people wounded. Nine members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed on Sunday, local media reported, while three people were killed after an ambulance was also struck in Israeli attacks on central Iran. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people so far, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, which had been mediating Iran-US nuclear talks, criticised the US strikes and called for de-escalation. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday warned against an "uncontrolled escalation" in the Middle East, as he and his German and British counterparts called on Tehran "not to take any further action that could destabilise the region".
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
UN chief warns of cycle of retaliation after US bombs Iran
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday (Jun 23) against yet "another cycle of destruction" and retaliation following the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, which he said marked a "perilous turn" in the region. "I have repeatedly condemned any military escalation in the Middle East," the secretary-general told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. "The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction. And yet, we now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation." Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also called for restraint as he voiced fears over "potential widening" of the conflict. "We have a window of opportunity to return to dialogue and diplomacy. If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels and the global non-proliferation regime as we know it could crumble and fall," Grossi said. Speaking to the Security Council by video link, he said there were visible craters at Iran's key Fordow nuclear facility, "indicating the use by the United States of America of ground-penetrating munitions". But Grossi noted that no one had been able to assess the underground damage at Fordow. He added that "armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place and could result in radioactive releases with grave consequences within and beyond the boundaries of the State which has been attacked". On Sunday, Russia, China and Pakistan circulated a draft resolution with other council members that calls for an "immediate ceasefire" in Iran. The text, seen by AFP, also "condemns in the strongest terms the attacks against peaceful nuclear sites and facilities." But the council is very much divided, with other members such as France and Britain instead calling for Iran to exercise restraint. Israel's UN ambassador, meanwhile, rejected the proposed resolution. "The US and Israel do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place," Danny Danon said. Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's envoy to the UN, slammed the US for having "once again resorted to illegal force". Washington, he said, has "waged a war against my country, under a fabricated and absurd pretext: Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons".
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
‘Slim to none': US strikes on Iran leave hopes for nuclear diplomacy in tatters
A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows damage at the Isfahan nuclear technology centre after US airstrikes on June 22. PHOTO: EPA-EFE 'Slim to none': US strikes on Iran leave hopes for nuclear diplomacy in tatters PARIS/ISTANBUL - In a bid to defuse the conflict over Iran's nuclear programme, foreign ministers from Europe's top three powers hurried to meet their Iranian counterpart on June 20 in Geneva. Those hopes collapsed on June 21 when US President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Iran's three main nuclear sites, in support of Israel's military campaign. 'It's irrelevant to ask Iran to return to diplomacy,' Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi, visibly angry, told reporters in Istanbul on June 22, promising a 'response' to the US strikes. 'It's not time for diplomacy now.' Mr Trump, who said the US airstrikes 'obliterated' the sites, warned in a televised speech on June 21 that the US could attack other targets in Iran if no peace deal was reached and urged Tehran to return to the negotiating table. Reuters spoke to seven Western diplomats and analysts who said the prospect of negotiations was negligeable for now, with an unbridgeable gap between Washington's demand for zero enrichment by Iran and Tehran's refusal to abandon its nuclear programme. 'I think the prospects of effective diplomacy at this point are slim to none,' said Mr James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank headquartered in Washington. 'I'm much more worried about escalation, both in the short and the long term.' According to European diplomats, the three European allies - Britain, France and Germany - were not made aware of Mr Trump's decision to strike Iran ahead of time. French President Emmanuel Macron had promised on June 21 - just before the US strikes - to accelerate the nuclear talks, following a call with his Iranian counterpart. One European diplomat, who asked not to be identified, acknowledged there was now no way of holding a planned second meeting with Iran in the coming week. In the wake of the US military action, any European diplomatic role appears likely to be secondary. Mr Trump on June 20 dismissed Europe's efforts towards resolving the crisis, saying Iran only wanted to speak to the United States. Three diplomats and analysts said any future talks between Iran and Washington would likely be through regional intermediaries Oman and Qatar, once Tehran decides how to respond to the US airstrikes on its nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. The attacks leave Iran with few palatable options on the table. Since Israel began its military campaign against Iran on June 13, some in Tehran have raised the prospect of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to signal Iran's determination to accelerate enrichment, but experts say that would represent a considerable escalation and likely draw a forceful response from Washington. Mr Acton, of the Carnegie Endowment, said Iran's most obvious means for retaliation is its short-range ballistic missiles, that could be used to target US forces and assets in the region. But any military response by Iran carried the risk of miscalculation, he said. 'On the one hand, they want a strong enough response that they feel the US has actually paid a price. On the other hand, they don't want to encourage further escalation,' he said. European effort ended in failure Even before the US strikes, the June 20 talks in Geneva showed little sign of progress amid a chasm between the two sides and in the end no detailed proposals were put forward, three diplomats said. Mixed messaging may have also undermined their own efforts, diplomats said. European positions on key issues like Iran's enrichment programme have hardened in the past 10 days with the Israeli strikes and the looming threat of US bombing. The three European powers, known as the E3, were parties to a 2015 nuclear deal that Mr Trump abandoned three years later during his first term. Both the Europeans and Tehran believed they had a better understanding of how to get a realistic deal given the E3 have been dealing with Iran's nuclear programme since 2003. But the Europeans have had a difficult relationship with Iran in recent months as they sought to pressure it over its ballistic missiles programme, support for Russia and detention of European citizens. France, which was the keenest to pursue negotiations, has in the last few days suggested Iran should move towards zero enrichment, which until now was not an E3 demand given Iran's red line on the issue, two European diplomats said. Britain has also adopted a tougher stance more in tune with Washington and that was expressed in Geneva, the diplomats said. And Germany's new government appeared to go in the same direction, although it was more nuanced. 'Iran has to accept zero enrichment eventually,' said one EU official. A senior Iranian official on June 21 showed disappointment at the Europeans' new stance, saying their demands were 'unrealistic', without providing further details. In a brief joint statement on June 2, which acknowledged the US strikes, the European countries said they would continue their diplomatic efforts. 'We call upon Iran to engage in negotiations leading to an agreement that addresses all concerns associated with its nuclear programme,' it said, adding the Europeans stood ready to contribute 'in coordination with all parties'. Mr David Khalfa, co-founder of the Atlantic Middle East Forum, a Paris-based think tank, said Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's government had taken advantage of the Europeans for years to gain time as it developed its nuclear programme and ballistic missile capabilities. 'The European attempt ended in failure,' he said. However, the Europeans still have one important card to play. They are the only ones who, as party to the nuclear accord, can launch its so-called 'snapback mechanism', which would reimpose all previous UN sanctions on Iran if it is found to be in violation of the agreement's terms. Diplomats said, prior to the US strikes, the three countries had discussed an end-August deadline to activate it as part of a 'maximum pressure' campaign on Tehran. 'Multiple channels' for US talks In total, the US launched 75 precision-guided munitions, including more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, and more than 125 military aircraft in the operation against the three nuclear sites, US officials said. US Defecse Secretary Pete Hegseth on June 22 warned Iran against retaliation and said both public and private messages had been sent to Iran 'in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the table'. Five previous rounds of indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran collapsed after a US proposal at the end of May called for Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. It was rejected by Tehran, leading to Israel launching its attack on Iran after Mr Trump's 60-day deadline for talks had expired. Iran has repeatedly said from then on that it would not negotiate while at war. Even after Israel struck, Washington reached out to Iran to resume negotiations, including offering a meeting between Mr Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Istanbul, according to two European diplomats and an Iranian official. That was rebuffed by Iran, but Mr Araqchi did continue direct contacts with US Special envoy Steve Witkoff, three diplomats told Reuters. One of the challenges in engaging with Iran, experts say, is that no one can be sure of the extent of the damage to its nuclear programme. With the IAEA severely restricted in its access to Iranian sites, it is unclear whether Tehran has hidden enrichment facilities. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on June 22 that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow, the site producing the bulk of Iran's uranium refined to up to 60 per cent, had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack there. Mr Acton, of the Carnegie Endowment, said that - putting aside from the damage to its physical installations - Iran had thousands of scientists and technicians involved in the enrichment programme, most of whom had survived the US and Israeli attacks. 'You can't bomb knowledge,' he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
