Hours after ordering strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in support of Israel, President Donald
Trump warned Iran will face more military strikes unless it makes peace.
In a brief address to the nation from the White House Saturday night, President Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East.” He urged Iran to make peace, warning that “If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.”
Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He warned that he will not hesitate to strike other targets in Iran if peace does not come quickly in the Middle East.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” he said.
Trump said that while the nuclear facilities struck by the U.S. on Saturday were the most “lethal,” “there are many targets left.”
“If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill,” he added.
President Trump said he worked “as a team” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was “perhaps” like “no team has worked before.”
But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the U.S. could have pulled off the attack.
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization confirms strikes
Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.
“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” it said in its statement.
Netanyahu welcomes US strikes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.
“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.
Netanyahu said the U.S. “has done what no other country on earth could do.”
US used ‘bunker buster’ bomb, Trump tells Hannity
The U.S. dropped six “bunker buster” bombs to strike the deeply buried Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Fox News’ Sean Hannity says President Donald Trump told him in a phone call.
The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses and significantly degraded multiple Iranian nuclear sites.
But to destroy the Fordo plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the 30,000-pound bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to penetrate underground and then explode.
The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.
If confirmed, this would be the first combat use of the weapon.
Republican leaders in Congress praise Trump’s decision to strike Iran
U. S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who was briefed by the White House ahead of the strike, said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated … That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iranian regime’s “misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk and Republican from South Carolina, wrote online: “This was the right call. The regime deserves it.”
Meanwhile, elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the U.S. Congress.
“Horrible judgment,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.”
Said conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional.”
Nonproliferation group condemns attacks
The Washington-based Arms Control Association, which focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, said the attack was an “irresponsible departure from Trump’s pursuit of diplomacy and increases the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran.”
“The U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, including the deeply fortified, underground Fordo uranium enrichment complex, may temporarily set back Iran’s nuclear program, but in the long term, military action is likely to push Iran to determine nuclear weapons are necessary for deterrence and that Washington is not interested in diplomacy,” it warned.
