US and Israel to blame for starting war, Iran tells UN
- Last updated: June 30, 2025 | 10:52
Iran demanded that the United Nations recognise Israel and the United States as being responsibly for their recent 12-day war, in a letter to the secretary-general published on Sunday.
“We officially request hereby that the Security Council recognise the Israeli regime and the United States as the initiators of the act of aggression and acknowledge their subsequent responsibility, including the payment of compensation and reparations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in the letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The United States joined Israel in its campaign during the war, carrying out strikes on three key facilities used for Iran’s atomic programme.
Trump has threatened further strikes should Iran enrich uranium to levels capable of manufacturing nuclear weapons.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent in 2021, well above the 3.67 percent limit set by a 2015 agreement from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018.
To make a weapon, Iran would need to enrich uranium up to 90 percent.
Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own atomic arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated it has 90 nuclear warheads.
According to Iran’s health ministry, at least 627 civilians were killed and 4,900 injured during the 12-day war with Israel.
Retaliatory missile attacks by Iran on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli authorities.
Iran on Sunday said it was not convinced Israel would abide by a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war this week.
The most serious escalation to date between the arch-foes erupted on June 13, when Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that killed top military commanders and scientists linked to its disputed nuclear programme.
Israel said its aim was to keep the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Tehran has consistently denied, insisting it has the right to develop nuclear power for civilian purposes like energy.
The fighting derailed nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, a staunch ally of Israel’s.
“We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted as saying by state television, referring to Israel.
“We have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force” if attacked again, he added, six days into the ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump.
Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi was quoted as saying on Sunday, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme have been.
US officials have stated that their strikes obliterated key nuclear sites in Iran, although Trump said on Friday he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran is enriching uranium to worrisome levels.
“The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi told CBS News in an interview.
“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,” he added, according to the transcript of an interview on “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan due to air on Sunday.
Saying it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons, Israel launched attacks on Iran earlier this month, igniting a 12-day air war that the US eventually joined. Grossi, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said the strikes on sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan had significantly set back Iran’s ability to convert and enrich uranium.
However, Western powers stress that Iran’s nuclear advances provide it with an irreversible knowledge gain, suggesting that while losing experts or facilities may slow progress, the advances are permanent.
Berlin urged Iran on Sunday to stop making “threats” against the UN’s nuclear watchdog after Tehran rejected its request to visit nuclear facilities bombed by Israel and the United States.
Tehran has accused Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, of “betrayal of his duties” for not condemning the Israeli and US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, and Iranian lawmakers this week voted to suspend cooperation with the agency.
“I commend director general Grossi and his team for their efforts and their unrelenting professionalism. Threats against them from within Iran are deeply troubling and must stop,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on X, without specifying further.
Agencies