President Donald Trump said he’s open to conducting additional strikes against Iran, should Tehran pick up its nuclear program again to a level that is concerning to the U.S.
‘Sure. Without question, absolutely,’ Trump told reporters Friday when asked about the possibility of subsequent strikes.
Trump has previously issued similar warnings to Iran, and said Wednesday at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands that if Tehran were to seek to repair its nuclear program once more the U.S. wouldn’t hesitate to move forward with additional strikes.
Trump also slammed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who declared victory over Israel on Thursday. Trump countered Khamenei’s claims and said that he had spared Khamenei from death.
‘I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday. ‘I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!’’
‘I wish the leadership of Iran would realize that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!’ Trump said.
The U.S. launched strikes late Saturday targeting key Iranian nuclear facilities, which involved more than 125 U.S. aircraft, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Sunday.
Following the strikes, Trump said in an address to the nation that the mission left the nuclear sites ‘completely and totally obliterated.’ But days later, a leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, published by CNN and the New York Times, cast doubt on those claims, saying that the strikes had only set back Iran’s nuclear program by several months.
Meanwhile, the U.S., Israel and Iran’s Foreign Ministry have all said that the three nuclear sites that U.S. forces struck have encountered massive damage.
According to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the FBI is conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter and who shared the document with the media.