- Iran considers closing Strait of Hormuz
- Regime change not our goal: US
The world braced Sunday for Iran's response after the US attacked key Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound US bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site, Tehran vowed to defend itself at all costs.It fired another volley of missiles at Israel that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv. The US State Department ordered employees' family members to leave Lebanon and Iraq, and advised citizens elsewhere in the region to keep a low profile or restrict travel.An advisory from the US Department of Homeland Security warned of a "heightened threat environment in the United States." Law enforcement in major US cities stepped up patrols and deployed additional resources to religious, cultural and diplomatic sites.Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States - either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies.As Iran's leaders struck a defiant tone, President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that the United States would "receive a response" to the attacks.Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said.Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on X that the initiative was "now with the side that plays smart, avoids blind strikes. Surprises will continue!"US President Donald Trump, in a televised address, called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated."The International Atomic Energy Agency said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes.A senior Iranian source told Reuters that most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved elsewhere before the attack.Trump immediately called on Iran to forgo any retaliation, saying the government "must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier," he said.US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was not at war with Iran but with its nuclear programme.In a step towards what is widely seen as Iran's most effective threat to hurt the West, its parliament approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz.US officials have stressed that they were not working to overthrow Iran's government."This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10mn people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment.Israel's bombardment has scythed through much of Iran's military leadership with strikes targeted at bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept.Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days, the first time its projectiles have penetrated Israel's defences in large numbers.Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on yesterday, sending millions of people to safe rooms.