American and Israeli forces have carried out strikes on cities across Iran, in what US President Donald Trump has described as major combat operations. Trump called for the Iranian people to rise up and government forces to surrender following what Israel called a preemptive attack. He later said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, which was confirmed by Iranian state TV. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it was responding to the strikes by targeting US bases and assets across the Middle East as part of operation Truthful Promise 4. This comes after weeks of threats and negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme. Here is how the international community is reacting. UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, condemned the military escalation, and warned that international peace and security were being undermined. The use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security, he said in a statement. I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation. Failing to do so risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability. At an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York on Saturday afternoon, US Ambassador Mike Waltz said the strikes were directed toward specific and strategic objectives: to dismantle missile capabilities that threaten allies, to degrade naval assets used to destabilise international waters, and to disrupt the machinery that arms proxy militias and to ensure the Iranian regime, never ever can threaten the world with a nuclear weapon. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said: Israel together with the United States acted to stop an existential threat to Israel, to our allies, and to global stability. When a regime chants 'death to Israel,' 'Death to America', we take it seriously. We believe them and we act. Our objectives are clear. Russia, Iran's ally, condemned the strikes. The aggression that Iran was subjected to today has already resulted in an escalation in the region and could spill over far beyond its borders, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia warned. Moscow earlier called on the international community to assess what it called irresponsible actions aimed at undermining peace, stability, and security in the Middle East. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blasted the joint US and Israel strikes as wholly unprovoked, illegal, and illegitimate. In a post on X he said that Trump has turned America First into Israel First - which always means America Last. Saudi Arabia condemned Iran's retaliatory attacks on Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait as it denounced in the strongest terms blatant Iranian aggression. Read the full story here.
