Iran moved most highly enriched uranium from Fordow before US strike - Reuters

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday that the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities marked a dangerous escalation in an already volatile region.

“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling from the outset of the crisis,” Guterres said. “I have repeatedly condemned any military escalation in the Middle East. The people of the region cannot endure another cycle of destruction. And yet we now risk descending into a rabbit hole of retaliation after retaliation. To avoid it, diplomacy must prevail.”

The UN Security Council is holding a meeting to discuss "threats to international peace and security" following the US airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Addressing the meeting, the UN secretary general said the conflicts need to be stopped immediately, and serious and sustainable negotiations be held on Iran's nuclear program.

Antonio Guterres said a credible, comprehensive and verifiable solution to Iran's nuclear program is essential, including full access by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A prominent Iranian state TV commentator has called for sweeping retaliation against US and Israeli interests, including strikes on regional bases, oil infrastructure, and ports, and disruption of oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If you’re going to go after the US, don’t fool yourself thinking you can just hit a few bases and depots and then gradually escalate,” Mostafa Khoshcheshm said on Iranian state television. “Trump won’t tolerate that… if Israel escalates to step two, you go straight to step ten—escalate to full-blown war.”

Among the options he laid out were attacks on US military assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, and crippling strikes on Israel’s main ports. “Destroy their infrastructure, economic facilities—their ports: Ashdod, Haifa, and Eilat,” he said. “Leave the people and cities, but obliterate those ports.”

Khoshcheshm also raised the prospect of blocking the Strait of Hormuz—a strategic chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil supply. “Shutting down the Strait of Hormuz is another option, or at least disrupting it,” he said. “If you do that—hit hard and decisively, shut the Strait, hit oil facilities—what does that mean? It means oil prices will skyrocket globally. The world would enter a full-blown economic panic. That means we all go down together—not just us.”

He accused Azerbaijan of providing fuel for US aircraft attacking Iran and warned that planned military drills near the Zangezur corridor in southern Armenia were part of a broader strategy to encircle and isolate Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country's campaign in Iran will end when the objectives are met.

"We won't do more than what is needed," he said during a press conference on Sunday.

"We will not be dragged into a war of attrition, but we won't end the campaign prematurely. When we achieve our goals, the fighting will stop," he added.

At the request of the Trump administration, the Israeli Air Force took out several Iranian air defense systems in the 48 hours before the US strike on Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, Axios reported, citing three US and Israeli officials.

President Trump made the request directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, after deciding to proceed with a strike unless a diplomatic breakthrough emerged.

According to the report, the US provided Israel with a list of targets to neutralize, focusing on air defense systems in southern Iran to pave the way for incoming US B-2 stealth bombers.

“In the 48 hours before the US operation, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) conducted several strikes in the area to degrade Iranian defenses,” an Israeli official was quoted as saying by Axios.