Tehran / Tel Aviv / Washington – With targeted airstrikes on three military sites in Iran, the U.S. military directly entered the war between Israel and the Islamic Republic on Sunday evening - an escalation that is sounding global alarm bells. For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the superpower is participating not just diplomatically but directly militarily in an offensive against Iran - with the declared aim of dismantling the country's nuclear program and severely weakening a geopolitical adversary. While Washington speaks of a necessary preemptive strike, the International Atomic Energy Agency warns of "irreparable damage" to the global disarmament regime. The situation is escalating dramatically. After more than a week of Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military facilities, missile sites, and air defense systems, U.S. bombers struck for the first time on Sunday - according to the Pentagon, using bunker-busting bombs on the uranium enrichment facility in Fordow and two other targets in central Iran. Eyewitnesses reported heavy explosions around Tehran, and the Iranian leadership spoke of a "massive, illegal act of aggression" - and announced retaliation. The strike, said U.S. President Donald Trump, had been necessary to deprive Iran "of the ability to build an atomic bomb." In a sensational interview, Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told ABC News on Monday morning, "Iran was an acute threat - and President Trump is the first who had the courage to do something about it." The U.S. government is "very confident" that enriched uranium was stored in the targeted facilities. At the same time, Trump once again suggested that a "regime change" in Tehran was not off the table.
Israel also intensified its attacks: The Israeli army confirmed on Monday that it had carried out targeted airstrikes on access routes to the Fordow nuclear facility. Additional strikes hit government targets in the capital, Tehran, including the notorious Evin Prison, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards, and facilities of the paramilitary Basij militia. Iranian state media showed footage of the destroyed entrance gates of Evin, which houses, among others, Western dual nationals and political prisoners. The Iranian judiciary stated it had maintained control over the prison, although parts of the facility were damaged. Tehran’s response came the same day. Under the codename "True Promise 3," Iran once again shelled Israeli territory on Monday – claiming that targets in Haifa and Tel Aviv had been struck. In Vienna, Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, called it a "fundamental blow to the Non-Proliferation Treaty" and announced "necessary, determined, and proportionate" responses. "As long as the source of the threat exists," said Najafi, "we will exercise our right to self-defense – at the time, place, and in the manner of our choosing." International diplomacy is also beginning to falter. In Qatar, where the U.S. base Al Udeid serves as the strategic hub of CENTCOM, the U.S. Embassy on Monday urged all American citizens to "shelter indoors until further notice." While the emirate stated the situation was "stable," tensions are simmering behind the scenes: Iran had previously threatened attacks on Al Udeid several times – though not yet in the current escalation. According to confirmed information, all U.S. embassies worldwide have been instructed to reassess their security situation and submit reports to the State Department by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, Russia also spoke out - with sharp criticism of Washington. Vladimir Putin received Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the Kremlin on Monday and called the U.S. strikes an "absolutely unprovoked act of aggression." The Russian government described them as a "blatant violation of international law, the UN Charter, and Security Council resolutions." Putin reaffirmed that Russia stands by Iran: "We support the Iranian people and their legitimate defense." Araghchi thanked Moscow for its "clear stance" and recalled that Russia has always been a partner in Iran's civilian nuclear program, for example in the construction of the Bushehr reactor. While Israel openly speaks of dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, its own arsenal remains untouched - protected by strategic silence. Israel is one of the few countries never to have joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty, yet it tolerates no nuclear competitors in the region. Experts see this as a dangerous double standard: "This nuclear asymmetry risks plunging the entire region into a nuclear arms race," warned a Western diplomat on the sidelines of the IAEA meeting in Vienna. Algeria also made a statement - as a close partner of Iran in North Africa and simultaneously as a gas supplier with a strategic interest in the Strait of Hormuz. The Algerian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the U.S. strikes and called them an "unprecedented escalation" that places the region in "incalculable danger." They called for an immediate return to the negotiating table - military solutions have never worked in the Middle East. While Trump's administration speaks of a "victory over the Iranian threat," international concern is growing that this moment is not the end, but the beginning of a much larger war. A war that does not only send rockets to cities but drives stability out of the region. What began with targeted strikes on Fordow may soon prove to be a historic turning point - and a moment when the world once again lost control.
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