President Trump said Saturday night he ordered “massive precision strikes” against three of Iran’s nuclear facilities to end the threat of Tehran building nuclear weapons and warned of more strikes if the Iranian regime does not make peace.
In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Mr. Trump said the mission was a complete success.
“Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” the president said. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Mr. Trump said he is prepared to order more attacks unless the Iranian regime submits.
“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” the president said. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
The president said for decades, Iran has sponsored terrorist attacks that have killed and maimed Americans from roadside bombs and other weapons.
“For 40 years, Iran has been saying, Death to America, Death to Israel,” Mr. Trump said. “We lost over 1,000 people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.”
As he spoke, Mr. Trump was flanked by Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Mr. Trump announced in a social media post earlier Saturday that the U.S. bombed three sites, including the key Iranian nuclear site at Fordo, an underground facility that only the 30,000-pound U.S. “bunker buster” bombs were able to hit. The others included Natanz and Isfahan.
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” he said.
He said the U.S. objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and to stop the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism.
The attack against sites in Iran with B-2 bombers came two days after Mr. Trump had announced that he would give Tehran up to two more weeks to negotiate an end to its nuclear program.
But Iranian officials said they would not consider negotiating unless Israel halted its week-old air war that has struck numerous military and nuclear sites and has killed hundreds, including several top Iranian military officers. Iran has responded with missile strikes that have killed dozens of Israelis.
For the past week, Mr. Trump has said he wanted to make a deal with Iran. But he also made clear that Tehran could not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon — a development that Mr. Trump and the Israelis said the Iranians were close to completing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Mr. Trump “has acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the most dangerous weapons.”
The president has been under pressure from his conservative MAGA base to stay out of a foreign war, one of his key campaign promises. Congressional allies such as Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, praised the president’s decision to attack Iran, calling the move “America First policy in action.”
