Live: Iran holds funeral for top military, nuclear figures killed in Israeli strikes

The United States struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday, joining Israel's war. 

Here is a roundup of the key reactions:

• Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the US attacks as "outrageous" and said his country had a right to defend its sovereignty.

• China's foreign ministry said it "strongly condemns" the US strikes, warning that they "escalate tensions in the Middle East".

  "China calls on all parties to the conflict, especially Israel, to cease fire as soon as possible," the ministry said.

• Malaysia's foreign ministry on Monday urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation in the Middle East following U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

• Pakistan, the only nuclear-armed Muslim country and a longtime Washington ally, said the US attacks "violate all norms of international law". 

• The European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas called for de-escalation and a return to negotiations.

• Russia "strongly condemned" the bombings, calling them "irresponsible" and a "gross violation of international law".

• Ukraine​​​​​​'s foreign ministry said the strikes were justified to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, praising them as a "clear signal".

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the strikes a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge". "There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace," he said.

• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation warned that the strikes could lead to "heightened tensions and threaten regional security, peace, and stability," calling for "de-escalation and self-restraint, and for resorting to dialogue and returning to negotiations and peaceful means."

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the US strikes on Iran, calling on Iran to "return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis".

• France's President Emmanuel Macron called a meeting of the country's defence council, with his office saying he had spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Oman.

  Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X that France is urging "all parties to exercise restraint to avoid any escalation that could lead to an extension of the conflict."

• North Korea also condemned the US strikes, calling it a violation of the United Nations charter and blaming the tension in the Middle East on the "reckless valor of Israel".  

• Pope Leo XIV said that "humanity is crying out for peace" and called for an end to all wars.

  "Each member of the international community has the moral responsibility to end the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm," Leo said during his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican.

• Saudi Arabia expressed "great concern" after the strikes on its neighbour, the "sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran".

• Hamas condemned the "blatant US aggression against the territory and sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran".

• Australia backs the United States' air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities but wants to avert a spiral into "full-scale war" in the Middle East, the government said on Monday.

• Japan called on Monday for de-escalation of the conflict in Iran and said US strikes demonstrated Washington's determination to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

  Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said it is "extremely regrettable" that the situation between Israel and Iran has escalated into a cycle of retaliation.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from Israel's ongoing war on Iran:

• Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the US joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

• France is to send military A400M aircraft to Israel to fly out any of its citizens who wish to leave for Cyprus, the foreign and defence ministries said Sunday.

• President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that US strikes had destroyed Iranian nuclear sites, after other officials cautioned that the extent of damage was still unclear.

• At a UN Security Council emergency meeting Sunday following the US strikes, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against "descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation".

We are wrapping up this live page covering Israel’s ongoing war on Iran. Here’s a round-up of today’s major developments:

• US President Donald Trump has announced in a social media post that the US has "completed our very successful attack" on three nuclear sites in Iran. 

• Iranian media reported on Sunday that part of the Fordow uranium enrichment facility as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked, after Donald Trump said the US had bombed them.

• Trump has said that Iran must now make peace or "we will go after" other targets in the country, hours after he announced the targeting of Iranian nuclear sites.

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the prominent Democratic lawmaker, has strongly condemned Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran. 

• Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, has labelled the US strikes on Iran a "dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge - and a direct threat to international peace and security."

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised what he called a "bold decision" by President Donald Trump to bomb Iran's nuclear sites, saying it would "change history."

• Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister, has strongly condemned the US attack, and said Tehran reserves "all options" to defend itself. 

• Iran has the legal right to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) based on its Article 10 following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Parliament foreign policy committee head Abbas Golroo said in a statement on X on Sunday. 

• Qatar has warned of “catastrophic consequences” following the overnight US attacks targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, urging an immediate halt to military operations and a return to diplomatic dialogue.

• China strongly condemns the US attack on Iran and on nuclear facilities supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday.

• Pakistan has denounced the US bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites, calling the move a breach of international law—just a day after Islamabad said it would nominate US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

• The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has announced plans to create a ministerial-level contact group aimed at engaging international and regional actors to help ease tensions and halt attacks on Iran.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for an urgent return to diplomacy after the United States carried out air strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, his spokesman said on Sunday.

“Iran must immediately enter into negotiations with the US and Israel and to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Merz was quoted as saying by spokesperson Stefan Kornelius.

The German government believes the overnight raids caused significant damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, Kornelius added.

The strikes followed Israel’s wide-ranging assault on Iranian missile and nuclear facilities on 13 June, which also targeted senior military and security figures.

Iran has long denied Western and Israeli claims that its uranium enrichment programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Speaking to ARD, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin remains committed to restoring talks. “No one thinks it’s a good thing to keep fighting,” he said. “Everyone knows there has to be a negotiated solution.”

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius described Washington’s actions as a response to a “concrete threat”, and welcomed the outcome. “A major threat has been eliminated … this is good news for the Middle East, but also for Europe,” he said.

Merz, who last week voiced strong backing for Israel, called its strikes “the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us”.

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged restraint following US air raids on Iranian nuclear sites, warning that the Middle East risks spiralling into “uncontrolled escalation”.

“No strictly military response can produce the desired effects,” Macron said during a defence council meeting in Paris on Sunday.

He stressed the need to revive talks: “The resumption of diplomatic and technical discussions is the only way to achieve the goal we all seek, which is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”

Although Macron stopped short of directly condemning the US strikes, he made a renewed appeal for de-escalation in a call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, urging Tehran to “exercise the utmost restraint” and “renounce nuclear weapons”.

In a joint statement with the UK and Germany, Macron also urged Iran not to take steps that could “further destabilise the region”.

The French leader is scheduled to travel to Norway on Monday, followed by a NATO summit in the Netherlands on Tuesday, which US President Donald Trump is also expected to attend.

He also held separate talks on Sunday with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Qatar.

An Israeli drone strike targeted an ambulance in central Iran on Sunday, killing all three people on board, according to local media reports, as clashes between the two sides entered their tenth day.

“The ambulance... was en route to transfer a patient when it was severely damaged by a drone strike,” ISNA news agency quoted Hamidreza Mohammadi Fesharaki, governor of Najafabad county in Isfahan province, as saying.

“All occupants of the ambulance — including the driver, the patient, and the patient’s companion — were martyred,” he said.

Fesharaki added that the explosion forced the ambulance off the road, causing it to crash into another vehicle.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ali Bahreini, has told the UN Security Council that the Israeli and US strikes on Iran were not isolated events but the outcome of what he called “politically motivated actions” by Washington and its European allies.

Speaking during a session on escalating tensions, Bahreini said Israel had “destroyed diplomacy” by launching an attack just two days before scheduled nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

He challenged Western expectations that Iran should return to talks, asking how it could return to something “it never left”.

Bahreini also accused Western powers of distorting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying it had been “manipulated into a political weapon … exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action”.

US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of regime change in Iran following recent American strikes on key Iranian military sites.

In a post shared on his social media platform on Sunday, Trump wrote: “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!!!”

His comments come amid soaring regional tensions after the US launched attacks on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure over the weekend.

A group of US lawmakers from both major parties has urged Congress to assert its constitutional authority over war powers, following President Donald Trump’s decision to order strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

While Republican leaders in both the Senate and House have backed the military action, there appears to be little chance that any resolution curbing Trump’s powers would pass both chambers.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said he plans to force a Senate vote this week on a measure requiring Trump to end military operations against Iran unless Congress formally declares war.

"This is the U.S. jumping into a war of choice at Donald Trump's urging, without any compelling national security interest for the United States to act in this way, particularly without a debate and vote in Congress," Kaine told CBS’ Face the Nation.

In the House, Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna have introduced similar legislation and called for an immediate vote.

The White House has not commented on the pushback from lawmakers.

Israel has slammed a European Union report accusing it of potential human rights violations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, calling the assessment flawed and baseless.

In a note seen by Reuters and shared with EU officials ahead of Monday’s foreign ministers’ meeting, Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the findings outright.

“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document ... and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, urging the EU to disregard it entirely.

The EU’s diplomatic service compiled the report, which Israel claims ignored the security challenges it faces and relied on what it called inaccurate sources.

Tensions between Israel and Europe have grown in recent months, with several European governments voicing concern over the rising civilian death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has advanced towards its strategic objectives in Iran following overnight US air raids on the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities.

“We have achieved a great deal, and thanks to President Trump, we have moved closer to our goals,” Netanyahu said during a televised press conference on Sunday.

He added, “when they have been reached, the operation will finish”.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has confirmed that US strikes damaged parts of Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility, specifically entrances to its underground tunnels.

“We have established that entrances to underground tunnels at the site were impacted,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement on Sunday.

Prior to Israel’s 13 June assault on Iran’s nuclear sites, officials had indicated that much of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium was being stored in fortified underground sections of the Isfahan complex.

Yemen’s Houthi movement has strongly condemned the US assault on Iran’s nuclear sites, calling it a “cowardly” act and a blatant breach of international law.

In a statement issued by its political bureau, the group warned the attack posed a serious threat to peace and security across the region and beyond.

It described the strikes as part of Washington’s “unlimited criminal support” for Israel, framing them as retaliation for Iran’s backing of “the Palestinian cause and resistance movements”.

The Houthis said such actions would not deter Iran from pursuing its “path of resistance” against both the US and Israel.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump publicly announced: "The US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."

Following the attack, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the use of force by the United States against Iran today is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge - and a direct threat to international peace and security.

On 13 June, Israel launched a series of coordinated air and cyber strikes targeting key Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure, killing several nuclear scientists and high level military commanders. In response, Iran retaliated with hundreds of missile and drone strikes against military and intelligence installations in Israel.

Israel's main objective was not about Iran's nuclear programme. Since the early 1990s, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed each year that Iran would build a nuclear bomb within a year or two. 

Read more: After US attack, Iran could reconsider its nuclear strategy

A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has warned that any military base used by US forces to attack Iranian nuclear sites will be treated as a legitimate target.

“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,” Ali Akbar Velayati said in a statement published by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.