President Donald Trump addressed the nation after the United States struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday.
From the White House, Trump was joined by Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Read the live transcript of Trump’s speech below.
“A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terror.
“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.
“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.
“For years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate.
“In particular, so many were killed by their general, Qasem Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue. I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi 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.
“I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.
“Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that’s so. I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan “Raizin’” Cain — spectacular general — and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack.
“With all of that being said, this cannot continue. 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. 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. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes.
“There is no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.
“Tomorrow, Gen. Caine, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, will have a press conference at 8 a.m. at the Pentagon. And I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God.
“I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and god bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.”
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