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UK foreign secretary David Lammy has had a phone call with Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign ministry says.

According to Tehran's readout, the pair discussed "the latest developments related to the United States' aggression against our country's peaceful nuclear facilities".

The Iranian statement continued: "In this telephone conversation, our country's foreign minister strongly condemned the aggressive act of the United States and considered it a gross violation of international law.

"The British foreign secretary, expressing regret over this act, rejected any role or cooperation of his country and called for the continuation of diplomacy."

We have not yet had a readout from the UK side, but we will bring you that when we get it.

France's Emmanuel Macron has called on Iran to show "the utmost restraint" following US strikes on the country's nuclear facilities.

Posting on X, the French president said he had spoken with Iran鈥檚 president, Masoud Pezeshkian, after the strikes, calling for a return to diplomacy and for Tehran to commit to renouncing nuclear weapons.

"There is no alternative: this is the only path to peace and security for all."

Macron also called for the release of two French citizens, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, being held on spying charges in Iran since May 2022.

The IDF has just announced details of its own strikes in Iran today in the wake of last night's US strikes on nuclear facilities.

The military says its air force "attacked missile sites and unmanned aerial vehicles in Isfahan, Bushehr, Ahvaz and for the first time in the Yazd area".

Around 30 fighter jets attacked "dozens of military targets" in the central and southwestern cities using over 60 munitions, the IDF says.

Targets included the strategic missile headquarters in the Yazd region, which is where some long-range missiles were being stored, and where the air force says around 60 missiles were launched towards Israel.

Missile launches and military sites, as well as a drone headquarters and a storage warehouse, were struck.

The IDF added: "During the attacks, an air force aircraft identified soldiers in the Iranian military forces from fifty missile launchers and eliminated them immediately afterwards.

"The IDF will continue to reach every region and attack from Iranian soil in order to remove a threat to the State of Israel."

Earlier this afternoon, we heard from US defence secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine.

During their news conference, Hegseth talked up Trump's attack on Tehran's nuclear facilities, while Caine laid out specific details of the operation.

There was seemingly a contradiction in what was said - with Hegseth hailing "incredible success" and saying the US had "devastated the Iranian nuclear programme" - but both men also admitted at the same time that assessments of the damage caused are ongoing.

Speaking during the conference, Caine said: "Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction."

And Hegseth also said: "The battle damage assessment is ongoing, but our initial assessment, as the chairman said, is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect, which means especially in Fordow, which was the primary target here, we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities there."

So while the US is talking up results from their initial assessment, it is yet to produce evidence of felling Tehran's nuclear capabilities.

Tom Clarke, our science and technology editor, said earlier that the dust would need to settle before the full extent of the US attacks was known (see more in our 11.45 post).

We've just learned that the United Nations Security Council will meet later today, according to diplomats.

The unplanned meeting is being arranged at Iran's request after the US attacked its main nuclear sites.

Tehran said in a letter earlier today to the president of the Security Council and the UN secretary general that they want the meeting to "address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression".

According to Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon, the meeting will begin at 3pm in New York (8pm UK time).

He added in a post on X: "After decades in which Iran has trampled on and ignored every international monitoring mechanism, it now suddenly remembers the UN and demands condemnation of those who stopped its malicious plans.

"The United States and Israel deserve no condemnation - only appreciation and gratitude from every nation for making the world a safer place."

JD Vance, Trump's vice president, has been speaking to our US partner NBC News.

He said he does not fear that the fighting with Iran will become protracted.

"We are not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program," he insisted.

He added the US does not want a regime change in Tehran - something senior Israeli ministers have repeatedly floated.

Vance went on to say the US has "no interest" in putting American boots on the ground.

Vance rode the coattails of Donald Trump into office, with the president vowing not to get America tied up in any more "forever wars".

The decision to hit Iran has caused something of a split within Trump's MAGA base, and leading voices are now looking to reassure that this is only a single strike - something we also heard from Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon earlier this afternoon.

Listen to our Trump 100 podcast discuss the MAGA Iran-strike split below:

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor

Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran could trigger a wider regional or even global war, but much will hinge on how Russia and China 鈥� Tehran's most powerful allies 鈥� respond.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said he will hold "serious consultations" with Vladimir Putin on Monday morning in Moscow.

His country is also in contact with Beijing.

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are regarded by Western allies as a new axis of authoritarian powers, increasingly aligned and supportive of each other.

President Trump, though, has broken ranks from his country's traditional democratic partners to forge a closer relationship with Putin than any other US leader in recent years.

How much that might affect the Kremlin's calculations as Moscow weighs up how to respond to his actions in Iran adds a new layer of unpredictability to the crisis.

Another limiting factor is the Russian military's physical capacity 鈥� should it wish to do so - to bolster Iran with military support, given its war in Ukraine.

What will Russia do next?

Unlike the NATO alliance, there is no formal agreement between Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang to come to each other's assistance in a crisis.

However, the weakening of one member of the quartet would impact on the vital national interests of the other three, making it mutually beneficial to help each other out 鈥� including with military force or at the very least by supplying weapons.

The Russian foreign ministry on Sunday strongly condemned the American strikes against Iranian nuclear sites as a 鈥渄angerous escalation鈥� that could further undermine 鈥渞egional and global security鈥�.

鈥淭he risk of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East, already beset by multiple crise,s has increased significantly,鈥� it said in a statement

Last week, the Russian government warned the US against joining Israel鈥檚 war in Iran, saying this "would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences".

The remarks came after Putin held a call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

It means the Russian government, in particular 鈥� given Tehran鈥檚 military support to Moscow in the Russian invasion of Ukraine 鈥� faces an urgent decision about how to support Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, whose very existence is under threat from Israel.

Iran's options for hitting back at US

The Iranian regime has little choice but to retaliate directly against the United States after three of its main nuclear facilities were struck overnight.

But its ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones has been severely degraded by waves of Israeli strikes since Benjamin Netanyahu went to war with Iran a week and a half ago.

US bases, warships and aircraft across the region are well within range of Iranian missiles and drones but the Pentagon has significantly strengthened its air defences in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack.

There are plenty of softer targets, though, such as American embassies or other diplomatic missions.

Iran could also choose to mine the Strait of Hormuz 鈥� a move that would have global ramifications by disrupting the flow of large amounts of oil and gas, as well as other trade.

Potential risk to US allies

In addition, the military assets of American allies could be viewed as legitimate targets.

The UK has said it played no part in the US attack.

But Britain's Ministry of Defence has further increased "force protection" measures for its military bases and personnel in the Middle East to their highest level in the wake of the US strikes, it is understood.

Iran's parliament has decided that the Strait of Hormuz should be "closed", according to Iran's Press TV.

The state-owned broadcaster attributed the comments to Major General Kowsari, a member of the National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, who also reportedly said the "final decision" lies with the Supreme National Security Council.

The Strait of Hormuz lies between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and is the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, making it a critically important shipping lane.

Elsewhere in the region, both the UKMTO (UK Maritime Trade Operations) centre and the multinational, US-led combined maritime force's JMIC information centre, are warning of a "high" threat level in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as the Israel-Iran conflict continues, and in the wake of the US strikes overnight.

As we reported earlier, experts have warned the economic shock caused by closing the strait could be worse than the one caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

We've already heard from our correspondent Cordelia Lynch today that in Israel, even in areas struck by Iranian missiles, support for Benjamin Netanyahu's recent strikes on Iran is high.

Watch her reporting from Tel Aviv below...

Also today, we've heard from a former Israeli ambassador to the US, who said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is having a "Churchillian moment".

The Israeli leader has faced criticism previously, with opponents saying there were failings in his government leading to the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. They also say Netanyahu has often leant into crises to distract from allegations against him. 

But Danny Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to the US, told Sky News earlier that Netanyahu was benefiting from the latest wave of attacks.

Ayalon told presenter Matt Barbet that Netanyahu had "definitely" benefited from the latest war developments.

"I think that, right now, his stock is AG百家乐在线官网 high... but, certainly in this, he's in a Churchillian moment," he said.

An 'ambiguous' nuclear policy

When Barbet pressed him on a belief held by many that Israel has "something like 90 nuclear warheads and the capability to make more," Ayalon first repeated a line that Israel wouldn't be the first country to introduce such a weapon to the region.

However, when pressed, he said: "Israel is in a unique position where we have been threatened, including by Iran, of total annihilation, so this ambiguous policy that we have is a nuclear weapon was quite understandable. 

"However, Israel has never threatened anybody in this region."

He also claimed the region was "much safer now" after US attacks.

Watch part of the interview below:

The Israeli government has just released a photo of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking with US president Donald Trump.

The Israelis did not specify whether the photo was taken before, during, or after US strikes on Iran, simply saying the pair were speaking "last night".