The US president has said the objective of the recent attacks was to stop Iran’s “nuclear enrichment capacity and put 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 said, reports Al Jazeera.
He said that Iran “must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
Trump added there are “many targets left… if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill”.
“This cannot continue,” the US president said. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”
Israel loomed large, with Trump thanking and congratulating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that the US and Israel “worked as a team” and have “gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel”.
Despite Trump promising to avoid US military intervention abroad, he framed the attack as in line with the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani during his first term.
Trump said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, would hold a news conference at 8am local time on Sunday (12:00 GMT).
Bd-pratidin English/TR
