'There are many targets left': How Trump announced to the world that the US had bombed Iran
JUST BEFORE 1AM Irish-time, President Donald Trump took to his TruthSocial platform and made a stunning announcement.
'We have completed our very successful attack on three nuclear sites in Iran,' his post said.
'Congratulations to our great American warriors. There is not another military in the world that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!'.
The move was widely unexpected. On Thursday, he had given Iran a two-week deadline – which, as a number of US newspapers noted, is his favourite unit of time
which can mean 'something or nothing at all'.
In this case, it meant two days.
Just over an hour after that first post, Trump made a televised address from the White House, flanked by vice president JD Vance, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth and US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The address was brief by Trump standards, at just under 4 minutes, and he stuck almost entirely to the script.
After describing how the US had 'totally obliterated' Iran's main nuclear sites, Trump warned that the United States would go after more targets if Iran did not make peace quickly.
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The reaction was immediate: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the strikes, saying that 'the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history'. Iran's foreign minister condemned the US attacks as 'lawless and criminal', saying his country has a right to defend its sovereignty.
'The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences,' Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
The intervention by the US president, who had vowed to avoid another 'forever war' in the region and who had faced pushback from one wing of the Republican party which had asked him to avoid getting involved in the Middle East, is significant. It threatens to dramatically worsen the conflict between Iran and Israel.
Trump's full televised address on the bombing
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
'Thank you very, very much. A short time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
'Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise.
'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.
'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. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.
'For 40 years, Iran has been saying, Death to America, Death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty.
'We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died have a direct result of their hate. In particular, so many were killed by their general Qasem Soleimani.
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'I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen, it will not continue.
I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.
'I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done, and most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.
'Hopefully we will no longer need their services at this capacity. I hope that so.
'I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan 'Razin' Caine, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack.
'With all of that being said, this cannot continue, there will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.
'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's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.
'Tomorrow, General Cain [and] Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, will have a press conference at 8am [1pm Irish-time] at the Pentagon.
'And I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God. I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel and God bless America. Thank you very much.'
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