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Sinar Daily
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Sinar Daily
Top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader says uranium stockpile intact despite US strikes
Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said American forces bombed Iran's Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. 23 Jun 2025 08:59am This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows cargo trucks postioned near an underground entrance to Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), in Fordo, Iran on June 19, 2025. (Photo by Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP) ISTANBUL - A senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed Sunday that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is still intact despite US attacks on three nuclear sites, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. "Even if nuclear sites are destroyed, game isn't over, enriched materials, indigenous knowledge, political will remain,' Ali Shamkhani wrote on X. This handout picture provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him, flanked by the Iranian flag and a portrait of his predecessor the late supreme leader and Iranian revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, giving a televised address in Tehran on June 18, 2025. (Photo by / AFP) "With legitimate defence right, political and operational initiative is now with the side that plays smart, avoids blind strikes. Surprises will continue!' he added. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iran's official radio and television broadcaster, reported Sunday that targeted sites had been evacuated before the attack and sensitive nuclear materials were moved to safe locations, without providing details. Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump said American forces bombed Iran's Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. The US targeted the sites with six bunker-buster bombs dropped on the Fordo facility with B-2 stealth bombers, along with dozens of submarine-launched cruise missile strikes on the Natanz and Isfahan facilities. The attacks came as the latest escalation in a US-backed Israeli military assault on Iran since June 13, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory attacks on Israel. Both sides have reported fatalities and injuries in the exchange of airstrikes. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU More Like This
Gulf Today
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
VIDEO: US strikes 3 Iranian sites, joining Israeli air campaign
The US military struck three sites in Iran early on Sunday, inserting itself into Israel 's effort to decapitating the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Iran's nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities. "The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,' it said in its statement. The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-lb. bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground. President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate. The US is stepping up evacuation flights for American citizens from Israel to Europe and continuing to draw down its staff at diplomatic missions in Iraq as fears of Iranian retaliation again US interests in the Middle East grow. Even before those airstrikes were announced by President Donald Trump on Saturday evening in Washington, the US embassy in Jerusalem announced the start of evacuation flights for American civilians from Israel. In addition to the flights, a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 American citizens, including several hundred Jewish youngsters who had been visiting Israel on an organized tour, arrived in Cyprus, according to the document. Donald Trump said he worked "as a team' with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was "perhaps' like "no team has worked before.' This handout satellite image shows an overview of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), in Fordo, Iran. AFP But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the US could have pulled off the attack. President Donald Trump called Iran "the bully of the Middle East' and warned of additional attacks if it didn't make peace. "If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,' Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities were announced earlier. Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The Washington-based Arms Control Association, which focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, said the attack was an "irresponsible departure from Trump's pursuit of diplomacy and increases the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.' "The US military strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, including the deeply fortified, underground Fordo uranium enrichment complex, may temporarily set back Iran's nuclear program, but in the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy,' it warned. A police tape blocks off an area near the White House, following US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, in Washington, DC, U.S., on Saturday. Reuters Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported early Sunday that attacks also targeted the country's Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. IRNA quoted Akbar Salehi, Isfahan's deputy governor in charge of security affairs, saying there had been attacks around the sites. He did not elaborate. Another official confirmed an attack targeting Iran's underground Fordo nuclear site. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency early Sunday acknowledged an attack on the country's Fordo nuclear site. Quoting a statement from Iran's Qom province, IRNA said: "A few hours ago, when Qom air defenses were activated and hostile targets were identified, part of the Fordo nuclear site was attacked by enemies.' The IRNA report did not elaborate. Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, quoted a provincial official in Qom that air defense did recently fire in an attack believed to target the area around the Fordo facility, but offered no other information. The semiofficial Fars news agency, also close to the Guard, quoted another official saying air defenses opened fire near Isfahan and explosions had been heard. Fars also quoted the same official in Qom province, saying air defenses fired around Fordo. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi arrives at Baghdad International Airport. File/Reuters President Abdel Fattah El Sissi of Egypt has expressed his government's "complete rejection' of Israel's campaign against Iran, calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict. El Sissi's comments came in a phone call Saturday with Iranian President Masoud Pezezhkin, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. The statement said El Sissi voiced Egypt's "complete rejection of the ongoing Israeli escalation against Iran,' as a threat to the Middle East's security and stability. The Egyptian leader called for an immediate ceasefire to resume negotiations with the aim of reaching a "sustainable, peaceful solution to this crisis.'
The Citizen
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
Did the US strikes succeed, and how will Iran respond?
The US said the strikes 'devastated' Iran's nuclear programme, but some are skeptical of this. This satellite picture taken on June 22, 2025, shows a close-up view of craters after US strikes on Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the city of Qom. Picture: Satellite image 2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP The United States' strikes on Sunday on Iranian nuclear sites raised two major questions: how effective were they, and what will Iran do next? US President Donald Trump said the air raids 'totally obliterated' the main nuclear sites, calling them a 'spectacular military success'. So far, Tehran has given little away about its response, although Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States had 'crossed a very big red line'. ALSO READ: US joins Israel-Iran conflict with overnight bombing campaign AFP looks at the impact of the attacks and the possible next steps. What was the effect of the strikes? The United States targeted Iran's three main nuclear sites including Fordo, a uranium enrichment facility buried 90 metres underground. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes 'devastated the Iranian nuclear programme'. The extent of the damage has not been confirmed, but there is speculation nuclear material had already been moved away. Heloise Fayet, a nuclear expert at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, said satellite images showing activity around Fordo 'suggest enriched uranium stock may therefore have been transferred to sites not monitored by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)'. 'We previously had knowledge, albeit imperfect, of the programme thanks to the agency's inspections; now no inspections are possible,' she told AFP. 'As for Iran's technical expertise, it cannot be destroyed, knowing that thousands of people have participated in Iran's nuclear programme.' Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King's College London, called the US action a 'high-risk operation that delivers unpredictable outcomes', given the facility was deep underground. 'Trump has been using OSINT (open-source intelligence) accounts to say Fordo is gone while the Iranians claim there is only surface-level destruction.' ALSO READ: Iran threatens 'more devastating' response to Israel's attacks Ali Vaez, Iran project director for the International Crisis Group, said destroying Fordo 'won't necessarily end Iran's nuclear programme. 'Tehran has produced hundreds of advanced centrifuges in the past few years that are stored in unknown locations,' he said. What is Iran's next move? According to Krieg, Iran will seek a 'calibrated response – loud enough to resonate, but measured enough to contain'. Michael A. Horowitz, a geopolitics and security analyst, said its options included attacking US assets, closing the Strait of Hormuz – a vital conduit for the world oil trade – or even attacking energy facilities in the Gulf, which hosts several US military bases. 'None of those are good options that achieve anything – this is mostly about saving face,' he posted on X. 'The risks, on the other hand, are great.' However, Horowitz said there were other ways to respond, including a limited retaliation against the US before returning to strikes against Israel and finally negotiating a settlement. The Iranian government now realises its very existence is at stake, said Renad Mansour, senior research fellow at the Chatham House think-tank, casting it back to the days of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. 'It's survival mode,' he said, predicting 'more violence' in the short term with the prospect of a 'managed de-escalation' and eventual negotiations. ALSO READ: What Israel–Iran conflict means for South African economy Hamidreza Azizi, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Iran might allow Trump a 'symbolic win' and retaliate against Israeli targets instead. 'This keeps Washington out of the war while intensifying pressure on Tel Aviv. The risk of drawing the US further in would now rest on Trump's next move,' he posted on X. 'If Trump continues to strike Iran without new provocation, it looks more like going to war on Israel's behalf. That's politically costly, given domestic opposition to war with Iran.' Meanwhile, Iran could deny knowledge of what happened to its enriched uranium, avoiding IAEA inspections, and later leave the Nuclear Non-Profiferation Treaty. 'Trump may have scored a tactical win, but if Iran plays this smart, they hand him a political grenade,' Azizi wrote. 'All while shifting the nuclear game into murkier, more dangerous territory.'
