In accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, I wish to report on behalf of my Government that on 22 June 2025 the Armed Forces of the United States exercised the inherent right of collective self-defence and advanced vital United States interests in eliminating Iran’s nuclear programme by conducting a precision air strike on three nuclear facilities in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Our President, Donald J. Trump, authorized this operation to neutralize the threat that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear programme posed to Israel and to international peace and security. The objective was to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and stop the threat of this rogue regime obtaining and using a nuclear weapon. That threat must be considered in light of more than four decades over which the Islamic Republic of Iran has launched unprovoked attacks against the United States and other United Nations Member States, violated the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of civilized nations, materially supported international terrorism, sought to eradicate the State of Israel and called for “Death to America”.
My Government has repeatedly informed the Security Council in recent years of Iran’s responsibility for armed attacks on the United States. In a letter dated 8 January 2020, my Government described an escalating series of armed attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-supported militias on United States forces and interests in the Middle East region. My Government provided further reports in the subsequent years, calling out the responsibility of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated militia groups for a series of armed attacks against United States personnel and facilities in Syria and Iraq, and notifying the Security Council of measures that the United States had taken in its national self-defence. The long history of Iranian belligerence gives unique gravity to the existential threat posed to United States interests in the region by a potential nuclear device and a ballistic missile delivery system in the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For almost 47 years the Islamic Republic of Iran has also waged a campaign of armed attacks against the State of Israel. Those attacks have intensified in recent years, including the launching of hundreds of ballistic missiles against Israel in 2024. The Islamic Republic of Iran has committed these attacks both directly and through its proxies, and Israel has responded to those attacks in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defence. On 13 June 2025, in the latest stage of this international armed conflict, Israel responded to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In close coordination with the Government of Israel, the United States has taken necessary and proportionate action – directed solely against the Iranian nuclear programme – to defend Israel and also to protect our own security, citizens and interests, consistent with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. The strikes taken on 22 June occurred because peaceful measures were exhausted. In recent weeks and months, and as it has for well over a quarter century, the United States made every effort to secure a diplomatic resolution ensuring peace, prosperity and security for all States in the region; to prevent a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation and instability, such a resolution must include ending the Islamic Republic of Iran’s potential development of a nuclear weapon. However, Iran refused to negotiate in good faith or to cease enriching uranium beyond the threshold needed for peaceful, civilian power generation.
The eradication of Israel and the downfall of America have been central pillars, policies and promises of the Iranian regime since it took power in 1979. Directly, and through proxies, it has repeatedly – and at great cost to the people of Iran – taken extraordinary measures to carry out these lethal policies. Based on the regime’s lengthy record of internal and external atrocities and depredations, there is no basis to believe that its claims of peaceful nuclear intentions are truthful, and it would be catastrophically dangerous to assume that a nuclear device in its hands would be left unused.
The United States remains committed to pursuing a deal with the Iranian government. Our President has called on the Iranian regime to end the violence and work with the United States and our allies and partners to bring peace and stability to the region. If the Iranian government abandons its nuclear ambitions and never again seeks a nuclear weapon, then this deal will massively benefit the Iranian people and bring peace and prosperity to the entire region. But President Trump has also warned that the consequences for any Iranian response will be dire. Accordingly, my Government reserves the right to take such additional actions as may become necessary in its inherent right of self-defence to respond to future attacks or threats of attacks against United States nationals and United States personnel and facilities, or in the collective self-defence of its allies and partners.
I ask that you circulate the present letter as a document of the Security Council.