World braces for Iran's response to US strikes
World braces for Iran's response to US strikes
This satellite picture shows the Fordow complex in Iran, after the US struck the underground nuclear facility. Photo: Handout via Reuters
The world braced on Sunday for Iran's response after the US attacked key Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel's assault against its Middle East rival in a significant new escalation of conflict in the region.
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.
The US State Department ordered employees' family members to leave Lebanon and advised citizens elsewhere in the region to keep a low profile or restrict travel.
Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States - either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies - but that may not hold.
Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country 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.
US President Donald Trump called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated."
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. (Reuters)
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