US Strikes Iran: Iran has threatened to target US bases in the Middle East in retaliation after strikes on three nuclear sites of the Islamic Republic on Sunday.
Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on June 22 that the bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation. “Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,” he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency and reported by AFP news agency.
The US officials said on Sunday that the country’s military “obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites using 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft. The strikes mark an escalation in the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict, with Israel beginning to strike Iran on June 13.
Israeli strikes on Iran have so far killed at least 950 people, wounded 3,450 others, news agency AP quoted a human rights group as saying.
Iran has said that the United States decided to destroy diplomacy with its strikes on the country’s nuclear programme and that the Iranian military will decide the ‘timing, nature and scale of Iran’s proportionate response.’
“America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences,” Velayati said.
US issues a worldwide caution alert
Amid escalating tensions, the US State Department issued a worldwide caution alert for its citizens travelling or living abroad. Flagging potential travel disruptions and demonstrations, the security alert read, “The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East. There is the potential for demonstrations against US citizens and interests abroad.”
President Donald Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched surprise strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.
“We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the ‘bomb’ right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)” he said on social media.
Rubio Urges China
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on China to encourage Iran not to shut down the Strait of Hormuz after Washington carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
Rubio’s remarks came after Iran’s Press TV reported that the Islamic Republic’s parliament has approved the measure to close theStrait of Hormuz, a chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which around 20 per cent of global oil and gas flows.
America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences.
