A political advisor to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the “game is not over” following US strikes on its nuclear sites. It comes as the Department of Homeland Security has warned of a “heightened threat environment” in the US. Watch and follow the latest below.
Sunday 22 June 2025 19:56, UK
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The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting today to discuss the Israel-Iran conflict and yesterday’s US intervention.
Speaking in New York, Israel’s ambassador to the UN says Iran will be hit with an “overpowering righteous force” if it continues to launch strikes against Israeli civilians.
He says he “prays that there will be change for the people of Iran”, but that it must come from inside, not from Israel.
On the US strikes, Danny Danon says it’s “too early to assess the attack”.
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser has told Sky News that the US president made the right decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, urging him to now go further.
John Bolton, whom Trump fired in 2019 after a short stint as his adviser, told lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim that the strikes were “the right thing to do”.
“It was a decisive action. It was the right thing to do. I thought somebody should do it for a long time, and it’s better late than never.”
This afternoon, vice president JD Vance told NBC News that the US is “not at war with Iran” and is instead at war with its nuclear programme.
But Bolton says the US should learn its lesson from Iraq, where he says Saddam Hussein kept together 3,000 nuclear scientists and technicians who could rebuild the Iraqi nuclear program despite its infrastructure being destroyed.
“You can’t eliminate the knowledge that the Iranian scientist had,” Bolton says, adding that the “Iranian regime has to be overthrown”.
US officials have said yesterday’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities took months and weeks of planning to pull off.
The Americans have said Operation Midnight Hammer involved 125 US military aircraft, including seven B-2 stealth bombers.
Military analyst Professor Michael Clarke explains below how the US used its arsenal of bombers, aircraft and submarines to strike targets inside Iran.
Donald Trump has just posted on Truth Social to attack Republican Thomas Massie for suggesting the US strikes on Iran yesterday were unconstitutional.
Trump calls Massie a “simple-minded grandstander” on Truth Social, calling him a “pathetic LOSER”, “disrespectful to our great military” and “weak”.
He says yesterday’s strikes were a “spectacular military success” and that the US “took the bomb right out of their hands”.
Massie is part of a small minority within Trump’s party to go against his strikes on Iran. Some Democrats have called for the president to be impeached after taking part in military action without approval from Congress.
The Department of Homeland Security has warned of a “heightened threat environment” in the US following Donald Trump’s strikes against Iran.
The National Terrorism Advisory System’s bulletin says “low-level cyber attacks” against US networks by “pro-Iranian hacktivists” are likely.
It adds there is a heightened threat that “the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could motivate violent extremists and hate crime perpetrators seeking to attack targets”.
By Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent, in northern Iraq
Iraq is no different to any other country in the region – anxiously waiting to see what happens next after America’s multiple bomb strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Where it differs is that Iraq – caught bang in the middle of the war between Israel and Iran, and now the United States – has to juggle its relationships with both Tehran and Washington DC.
The Shia Muslim dominated government of Iraq is close to Iran, and its influence on Iraq cannot be underestimated.
Shia militia groups in Iraq, while nominally answering to Baghdad, take much of their guidance from Tehran, so their positions must be taken into consideration by the Iraqi government.
At the same time, Iraq needs the US because it provides stability and support in the region, and the US military remains the most potent force in stopping terror organisations like Islamic State rejuvenating themselves.
There are at least 2,500 American personnel stationed in Iraq, and the US has major interests here – as it does across the Middle East and Gulf states.
That US presence itself poses problems – Iran has threatened to attack American interests and personnel across the region.
A political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the “game is not over” following US strikes on its nuclear sites.
Ali Shamkhani said existing “enriched materials, local expertise and political will” all remain despite the physical damage done.
He adds that the “operational initiative” is now in the “hands of the party that plays smart”.
Despite international calls for Iran not to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, Tehran is furious following US strikes.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the US strikes “will have everlasting consequences” and that Tehran “reserves all options” to retaliate.
Speaking today, he said the US and Israel had “blown up” any chance of nuclear negotiations and asked: “How can Iran return to something it never left, let alone blew up?”
He’s also called for condemnation of the attacks from the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting.
Levels of retaliation
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has already said it launched 40 missiles at Israel this morning, including its biggest ballistic missile, the Khorramshahr-4.
Missile hits were reported at sites in northern and central Israel, including in Haifa, Ness Ziona, Rishon LeZion and Tel Aviv.
The Iranian parliament is also moving to close the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state-owned media.
This move that would have global ramifications by disrupting the flow of large amounts of oil and gas, as well as other trade.
Direct retaliation against the US could include attacks on US bases, warships and aircraft in the region, though Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones has been severely degraded by Israeli strikes over the last two weeks.
The leaders of the E3 group have urged Iran not to “destabilise the region” in its response to US strikes.
Sir Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron discussed the latest developments in the Middle East earlier today, according to a statement.
“We call upon Iran to engage in negotiations leading to an agreement that addresses all concerns associated with its nuclear program,” the leaders say.
“We stand ready to contribute to that goal in coordination with all parties. We urge Iran not to take any further action that could destabilise the region.”
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