After Israel launched a massive attack on Iran early Friday, hitting nuclear facilities and killing military commanders, President Trump urged Tehran to make a deal "before there is nothing left." In an interview with ABC News, he called the strikes "excellent."
- "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come."
- "Certain Iranian hardliner's spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen," Trump wrote. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end."
- "I think it's been excellent," he told ABC. "We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more."
Hours before the strikes, Trump called for a diplomatic solution to tensions between Iran and Israel but said an attack " could very well happen," reports
Reuters. In a statement after the first wave of strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US knew they would happen, but was not involved. "We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region," he said in a statement. "Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense." Asked by ABC if the US took part in the strikes in any way, Trump said, "I don't want to comment on that."
- In a later post on Truth Social,Trump said, "Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to 'make a deal.' They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn't get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance."
- Iran has vowed to respond with "severe punishment" for Israel, the BBC reports. The country's foreign minister, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, said the strikes were a "declaration of war."
- Russia condemned the strikes as "unprovoked" and "unacceptable." Analysts say Moscow is unlikely to defend Tehran, though Iran supplied drones and missiles for Russia's war against Ukraine, the Guardian reports.
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