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The world grappled Sunday with the enormous implications after the United States inserted itself into Israel's war against Iran with an attack that raised urgent questions about what remained of Tehran’s nuclear program and how its weakened military might respond.Some observers warned that the future of worldwide efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons would be at stake in the days ahead.Video above: Pentagon officials speak on Operation Midnight HammerIran lashed out at the U.S. for crossing “a very big red line” with its risky decision to strike three Iranian nuclear sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.“The U.S. has attacked us; what would you do in such a situation? Naturally, they must receive a response to their aggression,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a call with France’s leader, according to the president's website.Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council that the U.S. "decided to destroy diplomacy,” and that the Iranian military will decide the “timing, nature and scale” of the country's "proportionate response.”Fears of a wider regional conflict loomed large. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said any country used by the U.S. to strike Iran ”will be a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.Video below: Iranian foreign minister says it would be 'very dangerous' if United States is involved in war with IsraelThe Trump administration sent a clear message that it wanted to restart diplomatic talks with Iran. “Let's meet directly,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “does not seek war.”But Tehran said the time for diplomacy had passed and that it has the right to defend itself. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was flying to Moscow to coordinate with close ally Russia.President Donald Trump, who acted without congressional authorization, earlier warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against U.S. forces. Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East.The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed attacks on the Fordo and Natanz enrichment facilities, as well as the Isfahan nuclear site. Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around them.Trump claimed the U.S. “completely and fully obliterated” the sites, but the Pentagon reported “sustained, extremely severe damage and destruction.” Israeli army spokesman Effie Defrin said “the damage is deep,” but an assessment with the U.S. continued.“We are very close to achieving our goals” in removing Iran's nuclear and missile threats, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday.The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the U.N. Security Council that no one was in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo, which is dug deep into a mountain, but visible craters tracked with the U.S. announcements. He said IAEA inspectors should be allowed to look at the sites. The U.N. nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors planned to hold an emergency meeting Monday.Grossi stressed that a path for diplomacy remained, but if that fails, “violence and destruction could reach unthinkable levels,” and global efforts at nuclear nonproliferation “could crumble.”With the attack that was carried out without detection, the United States inserted itself into a war it spent decades trying to avoid. Success could mean ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions and eliminating the last significant state threat to the security of Israel, its close ally. Failure — or overreach — could plunge the U.S. into another long and unpredictable conflict.Video below: How it happened: Pentagon officials give details on Iran strikesFor Iran’s supreme leader, it could mark the end of a campaign to transform the Islamic Republic into a greater regional power that holds enriched nuclear material a step away from weapons-grade. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last spoke publicly on Wednesday, warning the U.S. that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.”Iran, battered by Israel’s largest-ever assault on it that began on June 13, has limited options for retaliation, as key allies have mostly stayed out of the conflict. It could attack U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East with the missiles and rockets that Israel hasn’t destroyed. It could attempt to close a key bottleneck for global oil supplies, the Strait of Hormuz, between it and the United Arab Emirates.Or it could hurry to develop a nuclear weapon with what remains of its program. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said its program will not be stopped.New questions about Iran’s nuclear stockpileIran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Trump and Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon.Israel has significantly degraded Iran’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities and damaged its nuclear enrichment facilities. But only the U.S. military has the bunker-buster bombs that officials believe offered the best chance of destroying sites deep underground.A total of 14 of the bombs were used on Natanz and Fordo, according to the Pentagon. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 75 precision-guided weapons were used, including missiles fired from a submarine.Video below: Full Remarks: President Donald Trump speaks on U.S. striking IranThe strike on Fordo, which is dug deep into a mountain, raised an urgent question: What has happened to Iran’s stockpile of uranium and centrifuges?Satellite images taken by Planet Labs PBC after the U.S. strikes, analyzed by The Associated Press, show damage to the facility.The images suggest Iran packed the entrance tunnels to Fordo with dirt and had trucks at the facility ahead of the strikes. Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, have claimed Iran removed nuclear material from targeted sites.Before the Israeli military campaign began, Iran said it had declared a third, unknown site as a new enrichment facility.“Questions remain as to where Iran may be storing its already enriched stocks … as these will have almost certainly been moved to hardened and undisclosed locations, out of the way of potential Israeli or U.S. strikes,” said Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute focused on nonproliferation issues.“It is also unclear what secret facilities may exist inside Iran that Tehran could use" for weapons-related activities.Global leaders responded with shock and calls for restraint. Egypt warned of “grave repercussions” for the region. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Middle East-based Fifth Fleet, called on Iran and the U.S. to “quickly resume talks.”Trump's decision and the risksThe decision to attack was a risky one for Trump, who won the White House partly on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts.But Trump also vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. He initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders to give up its nuclear program.For Netanyahu, the strikes were the culmination of a decades-long campaign to get the U.S. to strike Israel’s chief regional rival and its disputed nuclear program. Netanyahu praised Trump, saying his decision “will change history.”Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, but the country has never acknowledged it.Iran and Israel trade more attacksIsrael’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Amir, called the U.S. attack a key “turning point" but added: "We still have targets to strike and objectives to complete."Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it launched a barrage of 40 missiles at Israel, including its Khorramshahr-4, which can carry multiple warheads. Israeli authorities reported that more than 80 people suffered mostly minor injuries.Late Sunday, the Israeli military said it again struck military infrastructure sites in Tehran and western Iran.Explosions boomed in the afternoon in the port city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant, three semiofficial media outlets reported. Israel’s military said it struck missile launchers in Bushehr, Isfahan and Ahvaz, as well as a missile command center in the Yazd area where it said Khorramshahr missiles were stored.Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 865 people and wounded 3,396 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group said of those dead, it identified 363 civilians and 215 security force personnel.At Turkey’s border with Iran, one departing Iranian defended his country’s nuclear program.“We were minding our own business,” Behnam Puran said.At least 24 people in Israel have been killed and over 1,000 wounded.