Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is used for peaceful civilian purposes, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the country has not begun making a nuclear bomb with its enriched uranium. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dodged a question at a press briefing about whether new intelligence showed that Iran had decided to build a nuclear weapon.
Iranian officials were involved in negotiations with the U.S. when Israel began attacking sites across Iran earlier this month, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making his latest claim that the Iranians "could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time" if nuclear targets were not obliterated.
The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that "several people" were injured in the attack on Fordo.
Trump said in recent days that he had not decided whether the U.S. would get directly involved in Israel's war, but flight tracking data showing B-2 bombers crossing the Pacific Ocean on Saturday provoked suspicions that a U.S. attack could be imminent.
Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said the Trump administration was "breaking international law" by entering Israel's assault on Iran.
"Military action against Iran is not the way to resolve concerns over Tehran's nuclear program. Given that U.S. intelligence agencies assess Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons, this is a senseless and reckless act that could undermine international efforts to prevent the further proliferation of nuclear weapons," said Parke. "The U.S. should have continued to pursue the diplomatic process underway before Israel resorted to the illegal use of force. This does not make the region or the world safer... The U.S. must stop all military action and return to the diplomatic path."
In the U.S. Democratic lawmakers condemned the attack as one that violated the Constitution, which requires congressional authorization for the use of military force—although both Democratic and Republican presidents have unilaterally approved attacks on foreign countries in recent decades.
"President Trump sending U.S. troops to bomb Iran without the consent of Congress is a blatant violation of our Constitution," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). "The American people do not want another forever war. We have seen where decades of endless war in the Middle East gets us—all based on the lie of 'weapons of mass destruction.' We are not falling for it again... Congress must act immediately to exert its war powers and stop this unconstitutional act of war."
Members of Congress have introduced three proposals, including two War Powers Resolutions, to stop the Trump administration from taking military action against Iran without congressional authorization. At least 59 Democrats and one Republican have signed on to the measures.
Top Democratic leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) were not among them as of Saturday, when Trump launched the attack, and both had defended Israel's bombardment of Iran.
Schumer signed on as a co-sponsor of Sen. Tim Kaine's War Powers Resolution after the U.S. bombings were announced and urged an immediate vote on the resolution.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Trump's "disastrous decision" to unilaterally bomb Iran was "absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment."
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Sunday that Trump had "betrayed" the country with which his administration had recently been negotiating and had "deceived his own voters."
Iran "reserves all options to defend its security interests and people," said Araghchi at a news conference in Istanbul. "My country has been under attack, under aggression, and we have to respond based on our legitimate right of self-defense."
Before the U.S. attack, Iran had said it would attack U.S. bases in the Middle East if Trump joined Israel's war.
Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Democracy for the Arab World Now, said Trump's actions "will most likely lead to retaliation from Iran that puts American troops and citizens across the Middle East in harm's way" and called for the passage of a War Powers Resolution "to prohibit further U.S. military involvement, even in the event of retaliation."
"We need deescalation, not more bombs," said Jarrar.
Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Trump had "fallen into Israel's trap quite easily" as Netanyahu seeks "to make our nation even more complicit than it already is with its genocide in Gaza and its multiple attacks on nations in the region."
"This attack, carried out under pressure from the out-of-control Israeli government, took place despite the longstanding conclusion by our nation's intelligence community that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons," said Awad. "Just as President [George W.] Bush started a disastrous war in Iraq pushed by war hawks, neoconservatives, and Israeli leaders like Netanyahu, President Trump has attacked Iran based on the same type of false information put forward by those who consistently seek to drag our nation into unnecessary and catastrophic wars."
"We must not engage in any further action against Iran," added Awad, "and should end our government's support for a rogue nation that seeks to dominate the region through a seemingly unending campaign of death, starvation, ethnic cleansing, and destruction."
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said the attack was carried out "because Trump and other American leaders still haven't figured out how to tell Netanyahu, 'No.'"
"If Netanyahu lit the negotiating table on fire, Trump just added kerosene to it. Diplomatic channels with Iran will be effectively ended," said Abdi.
"Iran hawks have always been clear: They view the war that Israel started last week not as a one-off, but as a regular occurrence," he added. "They want to keep bombing Iran whenever and wherever they please. It does, indeed, look like it could be a new forever war that the American people don't want and Trump pledged he'd avoid... Trump let slip the dogs of war, and the way ahead seems more perilous than ever. At this dark hour, we must all work together to rebuild a path toward peace."
The Arms Control Association warned that while Iran's nuclear sites sustained damage, "military strikes alone cannot destroy Iran's extensive nuclear knowledge" and would likely strengthen "Tehran's resolve to reconstitute its sensitive nuclear activities, possibly prompting it to consider withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and possibly proceeding to weaponization."
"Though the prospect for negotiations on a longer term framework to contain Iran's sensitive nuclear activities have been damaged severely, this remains the best possible long-term path to prevent further nuclear weapons proliferation," said the organization. "Trump needs a plan for deescalation and engagement."
