Two days after Donald Trump said he was going to give any decision on US involvement in Israel‘s war with Iran a couple more weeks, the president offered details on the bombing Saturday of three nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic and the potential of more to come.
“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror,” Trump said from the White House tonight in a short speech covered live around the globe.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” he went on to say. “If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”
Noticeably not speaking from the Oval Office, Trump was surrounded by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Praising the military, Trump said tonight that Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine would be giving a press conference early Sunday at 8 a.m ET with more details of the trio of attacks. Beyond the obvious logic of the Pentagon being in pole position in a matter like this, the 40,000 US troops in and around the Middle East are widely seen as a possible target for any reaction from Iran going forward.
Just before Trump’s less than 10-minute speech tonight, Iranian State TV displayed a graphic at one point of those nearby U.S. bases with the text “Within Range.” Trump made no mention of those troops or bases in his comments Saturday. Also before Trump was in front of the cameras, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave comments of his own, capped with “Congratulations President Trump.”
As Trump spoke, from the same place in the White House where Barack Obama stood in 2011 and revealed the successful killing of Osama Bin Laden, the administration released photos of a ball cap wearing POTUS and top officials in the Situation Room earlier Saturday. The group are seemingly watching video of military activity – also with Obama comparisons.
Declaring that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” Trump repeated his threat of more to come. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” he noted with a stumble or two in reference to the beginning of Israel’s hits on foe Tehran. “Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far and perhaps the most lethal, but if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill, most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There is no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close.”
Away at his New Jersey residence this weekend, poll besieged Trump made public the attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan sites not long after returning to the White House this afternoon and participating in a meeting with his National Security team. “Congratulations to our great American Warriors,” Trump posted online. “There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Worries of what Iran’s reaction will be in the region, to US bases and around the world became part of the TV and online coverage also as soon as news of the American bombing began. Also, concerns about secret Iranian facilities or unaccounted for nuclear material were part of the discussion in the absence of significant details of the American action in the hours before Trump’s speech.
With the world waiting for Trump’s remarks from the White House, officials of the Islamic Republic appeared on Iranian state TV earlier Saturday. The official said that the regime “didn’t suffer a major blow” because “the materials had already been taken out,” according to the BBC.
In the last few days, Trump seemed to be shifting his position on Iran, At one point he was rushing back to DC from the awkward G7 meeting in Canada, but then having his press secretary kicking any decision down the line up to “two weeks.” There were also reports of divisions with the top tiar of the administration over going into Iran with VP Vance and DCI Tulsi Gabbard allegedly cautioning against more conflict and another Middle East war for the USA.
Today, Defense Sec. Hegseth’s ex-employers at Fox News reported that B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles were used as well as half a dozen bunker busters dropped on the deep buried Fordow facility alone, officials from Tehran went on state TV to insist the sites were long since emptied. Additionally, those Iranian officials said “the materials had already been taken out.” A comment many military pundits on US cable TV saw as nuclear materials and centrifuges are now on the move in Iran.
Though America joining the Jewish State’s more than weeklong bombardment of the Islamic Republic had split Trump’s MAGA base with the likes of Tucker Carlson denouncing such a move, Senators such as John Fetterman (D-PA) and Lindsey Graham (R-NC) Saturday praised the US attack. Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA) had a very different response. “Horrible judgment,” Kaine said online Saturday night. “ I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war,” the Senator concluded.
With American military forces engaged now in the conflict, it is unknown if Trump will still be heading to Europe for the NATO summit next week.
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