After US hits Iranian nuclear sites, nations urge diplomacy to end conflict

In the hours after the United States joined Israel’s campaign against Iran, striking three nuclear sites early Sunday, world leaders urged a de-escalation and Tehran threatened retaliation, warning that “all options” were on the table.

US President Donald Trump announced that the US military had carried out a “successful attack” on the Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites in Iran, and clarified that the objective was only to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, adding, “Now is the time for peace.”

Israel, which began attacking Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure earlier this month, welcomed the strikes.

Oman, which has mediated talks between the US and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program, condemned the attacks while urging de-escalation.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the social media platform X that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate.

“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” he wrote. “In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.”

A commentator on Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster declared that every American citizen and soldier in the region was now a “legitimate target.”

The broadcaster aired a map showing US bases in the region, with the commentator declaring, “You started it, and we’ll finish it.”

אחרי העבודה האמריקנית בפורדו בטלוויזיה האיראנית מציגים את מפת הבסיסים האמריקניים באזור ואומרים לטראמפ: אתה התחלת ואנחנו נסיים pic.twitter.com/R8krFnXGZa

— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) June 22, 2025

Hamas, which, on October 7, 2023, led a devastating invasion of southern Israel and triggered a regional conflict, condemned the US strike.

“This brutal aggression constitutes a dangerous escalation and a blind adherence to the agenda of the rogue Zionist occupation,” it said in a statement.

The terror group, which is funded and otherwise supported by Iran, said it holds the Trump administration and Israel “fully responsible for the grave repercussions of this aggression.”

“We affirm our solidarity with our brothers in the Islamic Republic… and our complete confidence in Iran’s ability to defend its sovereignty and the interests of its people,” it said.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that his country needs to stay away from any possible regional spillover from the conflict.

“In light of the dangerous escalation in military activity, it is increasingly important that we adhere to our supreme national interest — preventing Israeli involvement or Lebanon’s entanglement in the current regional conflict,” Salam wrote on X.

“Awareness of our supreme national interest is our strongest weapon in these sensitive circumstances,” he added.

Salam’s remarks came amid growing concerns that Iranian proxy organizations — including the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah — may join the offensive against Israel after refraining from doing so over the past week.

Last week, a Saudi news channel reported that the Lebanese government had issued a warning to Hezbollah, urging it not to intervene in the war between Israel and Iran.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today.”

“This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security,” Guterres said in a statement. “There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.”

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi announced that “in light of the urgent situation in Iran,” he was convening an emergency meeting of the UN’s atomic watchdog on Monday.

Nations urge diplomacy, de-escalation

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X Sunday that France, which had held talks with Iran on Friday in Geneva along with its European partners, had neither participated in these strikes nor in their planning.

“France has noted with concern the strikes carried out last night by the United States against three Iranian nuclear program sites,” Barrot, who had spoken with his US counterpart Marco Rubio on Saturday evening, said, urging a negotiated solution.

Pope Leo XIV made a strong appeal for peace during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s square, calling for international diplomacy to “silence the weapons,” after an open reference to the “alarming” situation in Iran.

The first American pontiff stressed that “today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace and it is a cry that demands reason and must not be stifled.”

He urged every member of the international community to “stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”

Saudi Arabia expressed its “great concern” following the US attacks, according to a statement by the foreign ministry on X. The kingdom called on the international community to boost efforts under what it called “highly sensitive circumstances” to reach a political solution to end the crisis.

Oman said the US attacks threaten to “widen the war” and are a violation of international law.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer likewise urged Iran to return to the negotiating table and said that stability in the region remained a priority, according to a statement from Downing Street.

“Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer also said in the statement.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged all sides to “step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation.”

“Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” Kallas said in a post on the social media platform X, adding that EU foreign ministers would discuss the situation on Monday.

Division in Congress

Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic members of the US Congress delivered swift reactions to the US bombings.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said Washington’s strike against Iran’s nuclear sites “serves as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says.”

“The president gave Iran’s leader every opportunity to make a deal, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement,” Johnson tweeted.

There was more praise from other Republicans.

“Well done, President Trump,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina posted on X. Alabama Sen. Katie Britt called the bombings “strong and surgical.” The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said Trump “has made a deliberate — and correct — decision to eliminate the existential threat posed by the Iranian regime.”

But elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the US Congress.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that he received only a “perfunctory notification” without any details, according to a spokesperson.

“No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,” Schumer said in a statement.

“This was a massive gamble by President Trump, and nobody knows yet whether it will pay off,” said Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Trump for authorizing the strike against Iran, saying he “failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.

“The risk of war has now dramatically increased,” Jeffries said in a statement, adding that Trump had “misled the country about his intentions.”

Breaking from many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, praised the US attack on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”

By contrast, conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican of Ohio, said, “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional.”

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime Republican opponent of US involvement in foreign wars, also posted on X that “This is not Constitutional.”

“This is not our fight,” said far-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Israel says its sweeping assault, which began June 13, on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.