Iran says 'all options' open after US strikes on atomic sites

Arsalan Shahla, Bloomberg News on Jun 22, 2025

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Iran warned that U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday will trigger “everlasting consequences” and said it “reserves all options” to respond.

“The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, also the country’s lead nuclear negotiator, wrote on X.

“Each and every member of the U.N. must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior,” Araghchi said. “Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people.”

The remarks were the first official reaction from an Iranian official following the U.S. strikes on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan sites. The statement stopped short of directly threatening U.S. assets or outlining any specific retaliatory action.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the three facilities were “completely and totally obliterated,” warning that his administration would intensify military action if Iran didn’t agree to peace. The bombing came days after Trump had said he’d decide within two weeks whether to join the campaign against Iran by Israel, which launched its own attacks on June 13.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations called for an emergency Security Council meeting, warning that the strikes will “not go unpunished.”

Earlier, Iran’s atomic energy agency described the U.S. strikes a “savage assault” but pledged not to abandon its nuclear industry after the assault.

The “lawless actions” won’t cause “the development of this national industry to be halted,” the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a statement, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The agency did not confirm whether the sites of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had been “completely and totally obliterated,” as U.S. President Donald Trump said they were in an address from Washington.

Iran’s nuclear safety authority said it detected no signs of radioactive contamination at the three nuclear sites following the strikes, IRNA said in a separate report. The authority also assessed that there was no threat to residents living near the facilities.

Iranian lawmaker Mannan Raisi, who represents Qom — the closest population center to Fordow — said the facility didn’t suffer “serious damage,” with most of the impact limited to above-ground structures, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported. He added that any material at Fordow that could pose a potential risk to the public “had already been removed in advance.”

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