Iran issues stark warning to Trump 'the gambler': We will end this war
Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites over the weekend, which Trump suggested could lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government
Highlights:
- Iran says US attack widens its scope for military response
- Trump raises idea of regime change in Iran
- Iranian foreign minister in Moscow to meet Putin
- Iran considers closing Strait of Hormuz, impacting global oil shipments
- Oil prices rise to highest level since January
Iran said on Monday that the US attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces and called US President Donald Trump a "gambler" for joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.
Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters, said the US should expect heavy consequences for its actions.
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"Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it," Zolfaqari said in English at the end of a recorded video statement.
Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites over the weekend, which Trump suggested could lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government.
Commercial satellite imagery indicated Saturday's attack on Iran's Fordow nuclear plant far underground had severely damaged or destroyed the site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but its status remained unconfirmed, experts said.
In his latest social media comments on the US strikes, Trump said: "Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran."
"The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump earlier called on Iran to forgo any retaliation and said the government "must now make peace" or future attacks would be "far greater and a lot easier", fuelling global concern about further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
The US launched 75 precision-guided munitions including bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles against three Iranian nuclear sites, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, told reporters.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director general, told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the claim.
Tehran, which denies its nuclear programme is for anything other than peaceful purposes, launched a volley of missiles towards Israel in the aftermath of the US attack, wounding scores of people and destroying buildings in Tel Aviv.
But it has not acted on its main options for retaliation, to attack US bases or choke off the 20% of global oil shipments that pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Attempting to strangle the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite conflict with the US Navy's massive Fifth Fleet based in nearby Bahrain.
Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest since January. Brent crude futures were up $1.11 or 1.44% to $78.12 a barrel as of 0653 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude advanced $1.08 or 1.45% to $74.87.
REGIME CHANGE
In a post to the Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump raised the idea of regime change in Iran.
"It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" he wrote.
Trump's post came after officials in his administration, including US Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, stressed they were not working to overthrow Iran's government.
Israeli officials, who began the hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, have increasingly spoken of their ambition to topple the hardline Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment.
As Tehran weighed its options, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. The Kremlin has a strategic partnership with Iran, but also close links with Israel.
Speaking in Istanbul on Sunday, Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses and there would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated.
Russia's foreign ministry condemned the US attacks which it said had undermined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and warned of the conflict spreading in the Middle East.
The UN Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the US strikes as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council the US bombings in Iran marked a perilous turn in the region and urged a return to negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
Commercial airlines were weighing how long to suspend Middle East flights after the US struck Iran. The Middle East route has become more important for flights between Europe and Asia but flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed empty space on Sunday over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel.
