President Donald Trump addressed the nation late Saturday after he ordered the U.S. military to strike three main Iranian nuclear facilities suspected of producing weapons-grade materials.
“A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan,” he said. “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,” he added.
“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,” Trump continued. “That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular.”
The president also noted that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “obliterated” and that the country has been backed into a corner and “must now make peace.” He said: “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”
Trump’s address came shortly after he announced on Thursday, through Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, that he would decide whether to strike Iran within a two-week timeframe. “I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,’” Leavitt said at a White House briefing quoting the president.
The commander-in-chief then warned Iran that “there will be either peace or there will be tragedy” for the country following the strikes. “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,” he said.
“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’s never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago,” Trump added.
