U.S. President Donald Trump early Saturday announced the U.S. began “major combat operations” in Iran, saying the Middle Eastern country rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons program.
Instead, Trump claimed, the Iranians “attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and continue developing long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach our American homeland.”
The president, in video remarks posted to his Truth Social account Saturday, said the strikes were part of a “massive and ongoing operation” against the regime in Tehran. The scale of the strikes was not immediately clear.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” the president said. “We are going to annihilate their navy, we are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region and the world.”
Trump made a direct plea to the people of Iran in the eight-minute video, urging them to stay indoors and “take over your government” once the strikes halt.