Hours after Donald Trump announced that US forces had launched strikes on Iran’s three key nuclear sites early on Sunday, Tehran called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to condemn the act, alleging an “illegal use of force” by the US in connivance with Israel. Iran called the strikes a violation of the UN charter and international law, demanding that the perpetrators be punished.

The US, a permanent member of the UNSC, has so far backed the Israeli strikes on Iranian soil but has not involved itself directly in the week-long conflict thus far. But in the wee hours of Sunday, US forces dropped six GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites in a major escalation in the conflict.

“This letter urgently draws the attention of the members of the UN Security Council to a serious threat to regional and international peace and security— a threat arising from the deliberate and illegal use of force by the United States, in full coordination with the Israeli regime, against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran,” Amir Saeed Iravani, Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations, said in a letter.

“In the early hours of June 22, 2025, the U.S. and Israel simultaneously and in a premeditated manner targeted three of Iran’s peaceful nuclear centers in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—facilities that were under full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These attacks were carried out without any prior provocation, and the President of the United States immediately claimed responsibility for them publicly,” Iravani added.

According to reports, the Trump administration reached out to Iran through diplomatic channels on Saturday to make its stand clear that the airstrikes were limited in scope and that the US was not seeking regime change in the Middle-East country. However, Tehran disapproved of the US stand and called it a gross violation of international laws.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this act of aggression, which constitutes a grave violation of the UN Charter and international law. An attack on peaceful facilities is a clear breach of Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, the IAEA Statute and its resolutions, as well as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” the Iranian envoy further said in his letter to the UNSC.

He further stressed that Tehran demanded an emergency meeting of the UNSC to “address this illegal act and to take necessary measures to condemn it and ensure the perpetrators are not left unpunished”.

Early Sunday morning, Trump took to his Truth Social handle and said that the US had completed a “very successful attack on three nuclear sites in Iran,” adding that “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow”.

A sharp rebuke of the attacks followed as Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi accused the US of “criminal behavior” by targeting what he described as peaceful nuclear installations.

United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterres also called the US strikes a “dangerous escalation” in the ongoing hostilities and called for restraint from all stakeholders.

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