Leavitt: Trump spoke with Netanyahu, monitoring from Mar-a-Lago

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone and monitored the Iran situation overnight from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida “along with members of his national security team,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt posted to X on Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed all members of the “Gang of Eight,” those members of Congress designated as the minimum number who must be notified of all intelligence activities by the executive branch, she said.

“The President and his national security team will continue to closely monitor the situation throughout the day,” Leavitt added.

Large explosions shook Iran’s capital and waves of strikes were reported across the country as Trump confirmed on Saturday that the U.S. had launched military operations against the Islamic Republic.

In an eight-minute video posted to Truth Social, Trump said, “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

“Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world,” he continued.

The Iranian regime has chanted ‘Death to America’ for 47 years, and “waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops” and many innocent people throughout the world, Trump said.

Describing the Islamic Republic as “the world’s number one state sponsor of terror,” he underscored how it had recently killed tens of thousands of its own people as they protested against it.

Iran retaliated for the airstrikes by launching missiles and drones at Israel and U.S. bases in the region.