Iran says its military will decide 'timing, nature and scale' of its response to US attacks

Iran has said that the US "decided to destroy diplomacy" with its strikes on the country's nuclear programme and that the Iranian military will decide the "timing, nature and scale of Iran's proportionate response".

Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani on Sunday told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that it called after US strikes on three of its nuclear facilities that "Iran had repeatedly warned the warmongering US regime to refrain from stumbling into this quagmire".

The US "decided to destroy diplomacy" with its strikes on Iran's nuclear sites and the Iranian military will decide the "timing, nature and scale of Iran's proportionate response", he said.

"We will take all measures necessary," the envoy told the meeting.

Iravani accused Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of succeeding in getting US President Donald Trump to do the West's "dirty work" and hijack US foreign policy, "dragging the United States into yet another costly and baseless war."

He called US and Israeli aggression against Iran "a clear and flagrant breach of international law".

Iravani said that as Iran's foreign minister held talks this week with several European counterparts, "the United States decided to destroy that diplomacy."

"What conclusion can be drawn from this situation?," he asked. "From the perspective of Western countries, Iran must 'return to the negotiating table'. But, as Iran's foreign minister mentioned, 'how can Iran return to something it never left -- let alone'."