Israel-Iran conflict: List of key events, June 22, 2025
Here's where things stand on Sunday, June 22:
Fighting
United States President Donald Trump told the world that strikes had been launched by his country's military against three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump claimed in a post that the heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility was 'gone'.
The US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that the US strikes were an 'incredible and overwhelming success', without providing any evidence or details.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a further threat against Iran, saying any retaliation would be 'the worst mistake they've ever made.'
During an address to a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkiye, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US crossed 'a very big red line' by attacking Iran's three nuclear facilities.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan were 'attacked by enemies of [Iran] in a barbaric act that violated international law, especially the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on a 'bold decision' to attack Iran.
Israeli emergency services say Iranian rockets and falling shrapnel hit 10 locations. The latest Iranian retaliation followed the US strikes.
Israel's military said it carried out more attacks on western Iran against what it claimed are 'military targets'.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran's most recent missile strikes targeted Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, along with research facilities.
The IRGC is now deploying one of its most advanced missiles, the Kheibar Shekan, as part of its retaliatory measures. Unveiled in 2022, the missile also known as Khorramshahr-4 is believed to have the heaviest payload of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal.
Casualties and disruptions
The head of Iran's Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said that there have been no fatalities in the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
An adviser to Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that Iran had been anticipating the US attack on Fordow. 'The site has long been evacuated and has not suffered any irreversible damage in the attack,' the adviser said.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said that radiation system data and field surveys do not show signs of contamination or danger to residents near the sites of Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
The Israel Airports Authority says it has closed its airspace until further notice 'due to recent developments', referring to the US attack on Iran.
Airline carriers have continued to steer clear of significant areas of the Middle East following the US strikes, according to Flightradar24.
A man convicted of spying for Israel has been executed, the Iranian judicial news outlet Mizan Online reports.
At least 27 people have been wounded in Israel after Iran launched 40 missiles shortly after the US attacks. One of the targets hit was Ramat Aviv in Tel Aviv, with missiles tearing holes in the facades of apartment blocks.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that Israel bombed the city of Tabriz, targeting the IRGC's Martyr Madani camp, wounding at least two.
Iranian authorities said nine security personnel were killed after Israeli forces struck two military sites in the central province of Yazd, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
Gulf states, home to multiple US military bases, are on high alert after the bombardment of Iran raised the possibility of a widening war in the region.
Bahrain has told 70 percent of government employees to work from home until further notice.
US opposition to attacks
In one of the first responses to the attack by a Democratic member of the US Congress, Sara Jacobs said: 'Trump's strikes against Iran are not only unconstitutional, but an escalation that risks bringing the US into another endless and deadly war.'
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Trump did not seek congressional authorisation for the strikes and will bear full responsibility for 'any adverse consequences'.
Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American congresswoman, said Trump's ordering of strikes on Iran without the approval of lawmakers is a 'blatant violation' of the US Constitution.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has been leading a legislative effort to curb Trump's ability to attack Iran without the approval of Congress, said the strikes violate the US Constitution, which gives lawmakers the authority over war decisions.
US Senator Chris Murphy joined the Democratic chorus of criticism. 'I was briefed on the intelligence last week,' he said. 'Iran posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States.'
Global reactions, politics and diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency session on Sunday following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed 'grave alarm', describing the assault as a 'dangerous escalation', warning that the conflict in the Middle East could quickly get 'out of control'.
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said international law isn't a choice but an obligation.
China 'strongly condemned' the US attack, noting its nuclear facilities were under the safeguards of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the 'absolute majority' of nations are against 'the actions of Israel and the United States'.
Lebanon's Hezbollah, Palestinian group Hamas and Yemen's Houthis, all allies of Iran, condemned what Hezbollah called the 'barbaric and treacherous' US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Saudi Arabia said that it's 'following with deep concern the developments in the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly the targeting of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States of America.'
Gulf nations Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates all also expressed concern over what the attacks could portend for the region.
Turkiye's Foreign Ministry warned that the US strikes have made the risk of escalation more likely.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the US military action, saying the attacks 'alleviate' the 'threat' posed by Tehran's nuclear programme.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, is calling for a return to dialogue. 'Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,' she said, 'as it would be a threat to international security.'
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