Trump urges Iran to ‘make peace’ after US strikes nuclear sites
‘Iran must now make peace,” Trump said. “ If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
President Trump, announcing that the United States had struck three Iranian nuclear sites tonight, urged Iran to stand down or face further attack.
“Iran must now make peace,” Trump, flanked by grave-faced Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said in a televised address from the White House tonight. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
“This cannot continue,” he said. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”
“Remember, there are many targets left,” he said. “Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.
The United States messaged Iran that the strikes Trump ordered tonight would be contained and “that no further strikes were planned going forward,” CNN reported.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization issued a statement tonight calling the attacks on Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, hinting that Iran could be considering withdrawing from the treaty.
It also stated that “these attacks will not hinder the progress of Iran’s nuclear program.”
Several Congress Democratic leaders indicated that they had not been notified of the strikes in advance, while House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican leader John Thune, as well as Senate Intel Committee Chairman Tom Cotton indicated that they had been.
“Trump’s decision to launch direct military action against Iran without Congressional approval is a clear violation of the Constitution,” ranking House Intelligence Committee Democrat Jim Himes (D-Conn.), said in a statement. “It is impossible to know at this stage whether this operation accomplished its objectives.”
“We also don’t know if this will lead to further escalation in the region and attacks against our forces, events that could easily pull us even deeper into a war in the Middle East,” he said.
“Pres. Trump came into office promising to ‘end the endless foreign wars,’” Mark Warner, ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said in a statement tonight. “Tonight, he took steps that could drag the United States into another one, without consulting Congress, without a clear strategy, without regard to the consistent conclusions of the intelligence community, and without explaining to the American people what’s at stake.”
But almost certainly the criticism that Trump will be most concerned about is not that from Democrats but from many influential members of his own MAGA base, several of whom have been lobbying him hard in recent days against getting the United States involved.
“I’m not quite sure [that was] the talk that a lot of MAGA wanted to hear,” former Trump advisor Steve Bannon said of Trump’s address on his War Room podcast tonight. “It sounded like an open ended—either they shut down the nuclear power facility, or give up, or surrender. Very open ended.”
“It hasn’t been lost in the chat that he thanked Bibi Netanyahu, that I would think…is the last guy on earth you should thank,” Bannon said. “This is how you get sucked into this.”
While Trump may hope Iran absorbs the US strikes and moves on, there is no guarantee that is what will occur, former US military advisors said.
“There is no ‘one and done’ in any conflict,” Mark Hertling, former commanding general of the US Army in Europe, wrote on Twitter. “The opponent always gets a vote, and unless we’ve prepped for all the things Iran may do, we’re gonna have some surprises.”
Early signals from Iran after the U.S. strikes suggested that Iran was inclined to play down the severity of the damage, at least initially.
Qom’s representative in Iran’s Majles “says the damage in Fordow nuclear facility wasn't serious,” Iranian journalist Abas Aslani reported. “Mostly surface damage and repairable,” Aslani quoted him. The “attacks were so superficial; even no one was killed in the site. We see this aggression as the US’s entry into the war. Iran will determine [its] response.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister called the U.S. strikes “outrageous,” and said that Iran was “reserving all options” to defend its sovereignty and people.
“The United States… has committed a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear installations,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on Twitter. “In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people.“
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