The world braced Sunday for possible retaliation from Tehran as Iran warned of “everlasting consequences” after the U.S. bombed three major nuclear sites a day earlier.
President Donald Trump, in a live address at the White House on Saturday, said more strikes could come. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” he said. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was scheduled to hold a briefing at the Pentagon at 8 a.m. Sunday with the latest details.
Iranians disconnected from world
Iranians have been intermittently cut off from the world since the start of Israel’s air war on its military and nuclear sites more than a week ago, now joined by the United States.
Iran’s government has imposed a near countrywide internet blackout in recent days, saying it was necessary to prevent Israeli cyberattacks and for unspecified security reasons, though some residents have reported the shutdown’s efficacy has varied and sometimes they were able to get online. There have also been reported disruptions to cellphone text messages in Iran.
On Sunday, NetBlocks, an organization that monitors global Internet access, reported that connectivity in Iran “again collapsed” in the hours before the U.S. strikes. NetBlocks also reported that Trump’s Truth Social platform was “experiencing international outages for many users,” a scenario it said was not related to “country-level Internet disruptions or filtering.”
UN watchdog to hold emergency meeting
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog will hold an emergency meeting in Vienna on Monday following the U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, created in 1957 amid growing concern over nuclear weapons, called for an end to “hostilities” so that it can continue inspections in Iran.
“In view of the increasingly serious situation in terms of nuclear safety and security, the Board of Governors will meet in an extraordinary session tomorrow, which I will address,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
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The sites targeted by the U.S. strikes contained nuclear material in the form of uranium enriched to different levels, the IAEA said, according to its most recent information before Israel’s strikes on Iran on June 13. The material “may cause radioactive and chemical contamination within the facilities that were hit,” the IAEA said. Grossi said no health impacts outside the targeted sites are expected after the U.S. strikes.
“I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities should never be attacked,” Grossi said.
World reacts to US bombing of Iran
Israel hailed the United States’ decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites as an action that would “deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
Elsewhere around the world the reaction was far more constrained. The United Nations and some leaders from Britain to Mexico called for swift de-escalation while other longtime U.S. adversaries such as Cuba and Venezuela were deeply critical of the attacks.
