Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister who has been leading the nuclear talks for the Iranian delegation, promised that Iran’s army would “teach aggressors the lesson they deserve”.
Further explosions were reported in Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, all of which host US military bases. One person was killed by shrapnel from an Iranian missile in Abu Dhabi, UAE officials said.
The US president, Donald Trump, described the US military campaign as “massive and ongoing” as he called on the people of Iran to “take over your government”. In a speech posted on Truth Social, he said the US would “raze their [Iran’s] missile industry to the ground” and claimed Tehran had refused to reach a deal with the US that would have averted war.
Netanyahu said the US-Israeli attack could “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands”.
World leaders urged all sides to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table. The UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s retaliatory strikes on neighbouring countries, but the statement stopped short of complete support for the US-Israeli attacks.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said British planes were “in the sky today” in the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies”.
The UN security council called an emergency meeting for Saturday. The session was requested by the permanent missions of France, Bahrain, China, Russia and Colombia, according to a statement by the permanent mission of Russia to the UN.
In the US, Republicans largely welcomed the attack, but prominent Democrats condemned what they called an illegal aggression.
