An emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) is underway to deliberate on the regional situation following the airstrikes by the United States on three nuclear facilities in Iran.
After months of attacking Gaza — flattening homes, targeting hospitals, and starving a besieged population — Israel expanded its assault by launching wide-scale air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, military sites and private residences on June 13, killing top commanders, scientists and civilians. A day earlier, President Donald Trump said US air strikes “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East.
The strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which came four days after Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s meeting with Trump and a day after the government said it decided to formally recommend Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for his role during the recent conflict with India, were condemned by Pakistan. A meeting of the NSC, the highest forum for security deliberations comprising the civil and military top brass, was subsequently convened.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is chairing the meeting with Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir also attending the important moot.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office had told Dawn that Field Marshal Munir would brief the committee on the details of his meeting with Trump.
The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck the country, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon. Tehran has consistently denied the claim, saying its uranium enrichment programme is for civilian purposes.
Condemning the US attacks as a violation of international law, Iran said it was “resolved to defend Iran’s territory, sovereignty, security and people by all force”. It also responded with a volley of missiles at Israel that wounded scores of people in Tel Aviv.
