On Saturday evening, Donald J. Trump, less than six months into his second term, became a wartime president when the United States, at his direction, joined Israel to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities.
“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, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.”
There was no military that could do what the United States just did, Trump said in a boast that served as a deadly warning. With Vice President JD Vance to his right and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to his left, the president told Iran to make peace.
“If they do not,” Trump added, “future attacks will be far greater – and a lot easier.” The president had previously said that the U.S. knew the location of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but chose not to strike him. During remarks that lasted little more than four minutes Saturday night, Trump gave a new warning.
“Remember,” he said of Iran, “there are many targets left.”
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