U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the United States had launched “major combat operations” in Iran, warning that American soldiers may be killed and calling on Iranian forces to lay down their weapons or face “certain death.”
“I do not make this statement lightly. The Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social platform. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties that often happens in war, but we’re doing this, not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”
Trump said the strikes were aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy. He directly addressed members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, urging them to surrender and promising immunity to those who complied.
The strikes follow the collapse of diplomatic efforts to resolve the decades-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Washington and Tehran held a series of talks in recent weeks, the most recent of which took place on Thursday without a deal.
“Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said.
The military action had been widely signalled. The United States and Israel repeatedly warned they would strike Iran again if Tehran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Israel launched what it described as a pre-emptive attack on Saturday, with the U.S. confirming it was striking Iran by air and sea. An Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was preparing a response that would be “crushing.”
The assault marks the most significant direct U.S. military confrontation with Iran in the two countries’ decades-long adversarial relationship, deepening a crisis that has already rattled the Middle East and dealt a severe blow to hopes of a negotiated settlement.
(Reuters)
Read more:
