Trump announces attack on Iran, says US will 'destroy' its missiles
Francesca ChambersWASHINGTON − President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" in Iran aimed at wiping out Tehran's ballistic missile program and debilitating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime.
The U.S. began carrying out strikes on Iran in coordination with Israel in the early morning of Saturday, Feb. 28, after nuclear negotiations failed to produce a deal that satisfied all of the Trump administration's concerns, including an end to its missile program.
"A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard terrible people," Trump said in a video statement, which he delivered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The Trump administration has for weeks held negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program while also building up its military presence in the region. Tehran refused to abandon its nuclear ambitions, the U.S. president said, prompting the overnight airstrikes, which sent smoke plumes over Iran.
"They just wanted to practice evil," Trump said in the video posted on social media. "And we can't take it anymore."
In laying out his justification for the strikes, Trump said in his Feb. 28 address that Iran was seeking to rebuild its nuclear program.
The U.S. bombed Tehran's nuclear facilities last June. Trump said then that all three sites the U.S. hit had been obliterated, however a U.S. intelligence assessment found that only one of the locations had been destroyed.
Trump said after the latest round of strikes that Iran was developing long-range missiles that threaten America's allies, U.S. troops stationed overseas and "could soon reach the American homeland." The latter assertion, which Trump also made in his State of the Union address, has been disputed by experts.
He reviewed decades of antagonism from Iranian regime and its proxy forces and said they had been conducting a "mass terror" campaign against American forces in the region and international shippers.
"And we're not going to put up with it any longer," Trump said.
'American heroes may be lost'
Trump said the U.S. would "destroy" Iran's missiles, "annihilate" its navy and ensure proxy groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas are no longer able to destabilize the region. "And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon," Trump said.
"This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces," Trump said.
It was not immediately clear when the video that was posted to Trump's social media account was taped. Trump wore a white "USA" hat in the video statement, while standing at a lectern bearing the presidential seal in front of two flags.
"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.
Trump urges Iranians to overthrow government
Trump urged the Iranian armed forces and police to lay down their weapons "and have complete immunity, or in the alternative, face certain death." He addressed protesters in Iran, who've face brutal oppression by the government, that the "hour of your freedom" is close at hand but they should shelter inside their homes while bombs are dropping.
"When we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations," Trump said.
Trump told the Iranian people to seize control of their government while they can.
"No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let's see how you respond," Trump said. "This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass."
(This story was updated to add a video.)