In a new acknowledgement of the United States’ role in the 12-day war, Trump told reporters on Thursday, “Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that.”
Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, wrote a letter to the UN Security Council on Friday, saying Trump’s statement provides “clear and irrefutable evidence” of US leadership, orchestration, and command responsibility in the attacks which killed many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
Iravani condemned the aggression as a “grave and flagrant violation” of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and international humanitarian law, noting that it resulted in civilian casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and damage to Iran’s safeguarded nuclear facilities.
He further noted that the statement “clearly and unequivocally exposes the falsity of the earlier statement made by the United States Secretary of State [Marco Rubio] on 13 June 2025, in which he deceitfully claimed that ‘we are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.’”
The Iranian envoy declared that both the US and Israel “bear full and joint responsibility for their aggression and for the resulting loss of innocent lives, the extensive destruction of civilian property and infrastructure, and the deliberate targeting of safeguarded and peaceful nuclear facilities.”
He underlined Iran’s inherent and sovereign right to pursue “all available international legal avenues” to hold the US and its officials fully accountable and to seek full reparations and compensation for the deaths, injuries, and damages inflicted on Iran and its people.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked war against Iran, assassinating many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
More than a week later, the United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to impose a halt to the illegal assault.
Trump, who spoke at the White House on Thursday night, appeared to take full responsibility for what Washington had previously called an Israeli-only action.
“Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” he said.
This comes as Trump had long campaigned as a “peace” candidate who claimed to oppose starting new wars.