Iran-Israel war live updates: First images of attack sites emerge as Iran’s president demands response to US ‘aggression’

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the government supports the United States’ strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Speaking with ABC’s AM this morning, she noted the locations targeted were specific to Iran’s nuclear program and the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said the nation was “accumulating highly enriched uranium at an almost military level”.

“The world has agreed Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. So yes, we support action to prevent that. And that is what this is,” she told ABC’s AM. 

“The big question is now what? And Australia says, like so many other countries, we do not want escalation and a full scale war and we continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy.”

Donald Trump announced the United States had dropped “a full payload of bombs” on the Fordow nuclear site on Sunday, along with strikes on two other locations, declaring Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities “completely and totally obliterated”.

A government spokesperson on Sunday stopped short of offering an endorsement of the strikes.

Asked about the legality of the US strikes, Wong repeated: “I think we are all clear that Iran … cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. So yes, the government does support action to prevent that.”

You can read more more from Courtney Gould on our federal politics blog.

It’s Israel’s turn to speak at the Security Council’s emergency session.

The country’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, claims before Israel launched its attacks, Iran had been using negotiations with the US to buy time to build missiles and enrich uranium.

He tells the Security Council a nuclear Iran would have been “a death sentence”.

“This is what the last line of defence looks like when every other line has failed,” Danon says.

“The cost of inaction would have been catastrophic.”

US President Donald Trump is active on Truth Social right now.

“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!!!” he writes in one post.

In another post, Trump says damage to the Iranian nuclear sites struck by the US is “said to be ‘monumental'”.

“The hits were hard and accurate. Great skill was shown by our military.”

At the Security Council’s emergency session currently underway, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said no-one had been able to assess the damage caused by US strikes.

Trump also announced the B-2 pilots who took part in the mission had landed safely in Missouri.

“Thank you for a job well done!!! DONAKD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!”

Iran’s ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani says the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been manipulated into a political weapon.

The decades-old treaty aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. 

But Iravani claims it is being exploited as a pretext for aggression and unlawful action.

At the Security Council’s emergency session, Iran’s ambassador to the UN says members who have condemned attacks by the US and Israel “stand on the right side of history”.

“Today, another stain was recorded in the political history of the United States,” Amir Saeid Iravani says.

“Once again, the world has witnessed the blatant corruption of the US political system and its leaders.”

He tells the Security Council all US allegations against Iran are unfounded, have no legal basis, and are politically motivated.

Iravani adds that attacks by Israel and the US “did not occur in a vacuum”.

“They are a direct result of the ideological and politically motivated actions of the United States and its European partners — the United Kingdom, France and Germany — as well as the biased conduct of the IAEA director general.

“Undoubtedly, the United States, the UK and France, … along with Israeli regime and the IAEA will bear full responsibility for the deaths of innocent civilians in Iran.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the United States must “receive a response” to attacks on nuclear sites in the Islamic republic during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.

“The Americans must receive a response to their aggression,” he told the French leader, according to the official IRNA news agency.

In a bid to defuse the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program, foreign ministers from Europe’s top three powers hurried to meet their Iranian counterpart in Geneva on Friday.

Those hopes collapsed when US President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Iran the day after the meeting.

Dorothy Shea, the US ambassador to the UN, now has the floor at the Security Council’s emergency session.

She says the US acted “to aid our ally Israel in our inherent right to collective self-defence, consistent with the UN charter”.

Article 51 of the charter states nothing “shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security”.

“To fulfill its core mission of maintaining international peace and security, this council must call upon the Iranian regime to end its 47-year effort to eradicate the state of Israel; to terminate its drive for nuclear weapons; to stop targeting American citizens and interests; and to negotiate peace in good faith for the prosperity and security of the Iranian people and all other states in the region,” she says.

Explosions have been heard in the Alborz province west of the Iranian capital Tehran and in the Western city of Kermanshah, Iranian news agencies say.

We’ve heard from several states’ UN envoys now.

Russia’s ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, is currently speaking.

He tells the National Security Council that the US has “opened a Pandora’s box”, from which no one knows what new catastrophes and suffering will come.

Nebenzya says it’s clear the US is not interested in diplomacy, but called for Israel and the US to immediately halt aggressive actions. 

Earlier, China’s envoy strongly condemned the US’ attacks on Iran and called for an immediate ceasefire from all parties, but particularly Israel. 

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director of the the UN’s nuclear watchdog, says the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is “on the line” amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Speaking at the National Security Council’s emergency session, the International Atomic Energy Agency boss says there is a “window of opportunity” to return to diplomacy.

“If that window closes, violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels,” he says.

He urged for a pause in hostilities so IAEA teams could inspect the nuclear sites struck in Iran.

Grossi noted that craters are visible at the Fordow nuclear site.

“At this time, no-one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow,” he says.

The United Nations Security Council has convened for  an emergency session after the US joined Israel’s attacks on Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi demanded the meeting condemn the US bombing of three nuclear sites.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the US’ attack marked a “perilous turn in a region that is already reeling”, adding that the world “cannot, and must not, give upon peace”.

“We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation,” he said.

“To avoid it, diplomacy must prevail, civilians must be protected, safe maritime navigation must be guaranteed.”

He called for immediate and decisive action to cease fighting and return to “serious, sustained negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program.

Guterres said the International Atomic Energy Agency must be given full access to the nuclear sites bombed in the US attacks.

Senior figures of Donald Trump’s administration, including Vice-President JD Vance, say the US is not interested in regime change in Tehran following strikes against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.

Mr Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both appeared on American TV networks overnight, stressing that the US was not officially at war with Iran but rather its nuclear program.

“I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time,” Mr Vance said on NBC.

He added that the US “had no interest in boots on the ground”. 

Meanwhile, Mr Rubio told CBS the US was not going to conduct further strikes at this stage but issued a warning to Iran not to retaliate.

“We have other targets we can hit, but we achieved our objective. There are no planned military operations right now against Iran — unless they mess around,” he said.

Reporting with Reuters

The UK, France and Germany have released a joint statement following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, calling on Iran to engage in talks on its nuclear program.

The three countries also urged Iran “not to take any further action that could destabilise the region”, adding: “We have consistently been clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and can no longer pose a threat to regional security.”

Seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards and two soldiers have been killed in Israeli strikes on two military sites in the city of Yazd, according to reports.

The state-run Mizan news agency first reported the news on Sunday.

Iran’s parliament has reportedly backed plans to close the Strait of Hormuz, but it is unclear if it has the authority to make the decision.

Iran has long used the threat of closing the Strait, through which around 20% of global oil and gas demand flows, as a way to ward off Western pressure.

The decision to close the strait does not appear to be final, however, and Iran’s Press TV said on Sunday that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council must make the final decision.

Reporting with Reuters

Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to lambast Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who called the US strikes on Iran “not constitutional”.

The president, who is under pressure from US politicians for launching the operation without securing approval from Congress, said the strikes had been a “spectacular military success“, which had taken the “bomb” out of Iran’s hands.

“He’s [Massie’s] a simple minded “grandstander” who thinks it’s good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling “DEATH TO AMERICA” at every chance they get. Iran has killed and maimed thousands of Americans, and even took over the American Embassy in Tehran under the Carter Administration. We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the “bomb” right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!) but, as usual, and despite all of the praise and accolades received, this “lightweight” Congressman is against what was so brilliantly achieved last night in Iran.”

He went on to call Massie “disrespectful to our great military, and all that they stand for” adding he had not acknowledged “their brilliance and bravery in yesterday’s attack, which was a total and complete WIN”.

New satellite imagery shows large holes in the side of a mountain where the Fordow nuclear site is located in Iran.

These images, taken by Maxar and supplied by Reuters, give us yet another glimpse at how the US attacked this facility, buried deep underground.

In both images, you can even see large craters where the US’s bunker-busting bombs hit the ground.

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir has been providing an update in the last half-hour.

He says Israel is continuing to “increase the rate” of strikes against Iran and vowed the country was prepared to continue conducting military operations “for as long as it takes”.

Meanwhile, as the world waits to see what could happen next, the team at ABC News Verify has put together this helpful story visualising one of the targets struck by US bombers on Sunday.

The Fordow nuclear bunker is buried deep under a mountain, so far underground only American bombs can reach it.

That’s a big reason why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wanted the US to enter the war.

We’ve pieced together what’s inside Fordow, a top secret facility whose internal designs were only brought to light by a daring Israeli raid. You can read all about it here: