22-6-2025
US President Donald Trump early Sunday ordered several deadly strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Mr. Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israel’s war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days.
World leaders reacted to the attack, while some praised the US action, others warned of a greater conflict to come in the middle east.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States, calling the strikes a “dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge”.
“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X. “I call on Member States to de-escalate.”
“There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.”
China also strongly condemned the US strikes on Iran, calling them a serious violation of international law that further inflamed tensions in the Middle East.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry urged all parties – especially Israel – to implement a cease-fire and begin dialogue.
“China is willing to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and contribute to the work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East,” the ministry said in a statement.
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons.
He didn’t specify which countries, but said the US attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear arms.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” the airstrikes and called them a “a gross violation of international law, the UN Charter, and UN Security Council resolutions”.
Pakistan blasted the US strikes as a “deeply disturbing” escalation just days after it nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic intervention with the India-Pakistan crisis.
“These attacks violate all norms of international law,” the government said in a statement. “Iran has the legitimate right to defend itself under the UN Charter.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for Iran to return to the negotiating table to diplomatically end the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region.
The UK, along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution in Geneva last week with Iran.
Starmer said Iran’s nuclear programme posed a grave threat to global security.
“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said.
The European Union’s top diplomat said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but she urged those involved in the conflict to show restraint.
“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on social media.
Saudi Arabia expressed “deep concern” about the US air strikes, but stopped short of condemning them.
“The Kingdom underscores the need to exert all possible efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia had earlier condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leaders.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during a press conference in Istanbul on Sunday, said the US has “crossed every red line” with the latest attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, warning that diplomacy may no longer be possible.
The recent US strikes on Iran are “outrageous, grave, and unprecedented violation of fundamental principles of the Charter of the UN and international law,” Araghchi said.
“Iran condemns in the strongest terms the US brutal military aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities,” Araghchi noted.