U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to the nation on Saturday night to announce a “spectacular military success” in the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites earlier that evening.
“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, flanked by the vice president, secretary of state and defense secretary.
“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,” Trump said.
Iran must now enter into peace talks, according to the president. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,” he said.
The president recounted Iran’s record as “the bully of the middle east,” responsible for thousands of American casualties in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere and as a supporter of regimes and proxies that have killed hundreds of thousands of people in the region.
“I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen,” Trump said. “It will not continue.”
Trump also thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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,” Trump said. “I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done.”
Netanyahu thanked Trump for the American strike on Saturday.
“President Trump and I often say: ‘Peace through strength.’ First comes strength, then comes peace,” he stated. “Tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength.”
The president threatened Iran with greater destruction if it did not negotiate with the United States and said that on Saturday, the U.S. military had eliminated “perhaps the most lethal” and “most difficult” of Iranian targets.
“Remember, there are many targets left,” Trump said. “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.”
“God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel and God bless America,” he said.
