Iran Speaks Out As US Attacks Country Amid Battle With Israel, ‘Everlasting Consequences’

• In the first official reaction to US strikes on Iran, Iranian foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has the right to defend itself against US' ‘grave violation’
• The top Iranian diplomat called the US' strikes a 'grave violation of the UN charter and international law"
• A war is ongoing between Iran and Israel, and the US, a supporter of the Benjamin Netanyahu-led country, has joined the conflict

Legit.ng journalist, Ridwan Adeola Yusuf, has over 9 years of experience covering global affairs.

Tehran, Iran - Amid a conflict with Israel, Abbas Araqchi, the foreign minister of Iran, has warned that strikes by the United States (US) will have ‘everlasting consequences’.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the US bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, further escalating the war between Israel and Iran.

President Donald Trump late on Saturday, June 21, said the US attacks “obliterated” the Iranian facilities in Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz as he threatened more strikes to eliminate the country’s nuclear enrichment capacity if Tehran “does not make peace”.

Reacting via X (formerly Twitter), Araqchi wrote:

"The United States, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear installations. The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behaviour.

"In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people."

Moghalu comments on Iran-Israel conflict

Meanwhile, former Nigerian presidential hopeful Professor Kingsley Moghalu has said a World War III is unlikely.

Moghalu shared his thoughts via his verified X page on Sunday, June 22.

He wrote:

"We have re-entered the reign of “balance of power” in world politics. Power and might is seen as the only guarantee of international security and containment of “rogue” actors. Strategic imperatives, such as who can or cannot have nuclear weapons — now supersede all other considerations. It is worth recalling the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

"Some wonder: will this trigger World War III? Unlikely. With Russia and China acting uninterested, how will that start. That’s Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) all around, and could only be started by a rogue actor. Therefore, Iran, already weak even before this (probably why it has sought power via the nuclear route) has been fundamentally weakened. Its response can only be asymmetric.

"I quote the realist international relations theorist Hans Morgenthau: “The statesman must think in terms of the national interest, conceived as power among other powers. The popular mind, unaware of the fine distinctions of the statesman's thinking, reasons more often than not in the simple moralistic and legalistic terms of absolute good and absolute evil.”

Read more on the Israel and Iran conflict:

• "They are all dead": Donald Trump gives conditions to Iran after Israel's attacks
• Israel's attack on Iran: What we know so far amid escalation of tension
• Iran unleashes ballistic missile capable of flying 15 times the speed of sound against Israel

Iranian missile hits Israeli hospital

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a hospital in the Israeli town of Beersheba was hit as Iran fired a barrage of missiles at the country, with the conflict between the two nations continuing.

With strikes being reported in several locations across Israel, the country's health ministry disclosed that 271 people had been injured.

Israel Katz, the country's minister of Defence, accused Iran of "war crimes of the most serious kind" and said Ayatollah Khamenei "will be held accountable for his crimes."

Source: Legit.ng