Trump says there are “Major combat operations in Iran”
The President said the military operation was launched to ensure that the “terrorist regime” of Iran did not obtain a nuclear weapon. “They can never have a nuclear weapon.”
Washington, Feb 28 (EFE).-
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the US was undertaking “major combat operations in Iran,” after Israel launched a preemptive attack on the Islamic republic.
“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 message posted on his account of Truth Social.
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated.”
Trump justified the attack saying Iran was “the world’s number one state sponsor of terror” and its regime recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested.
“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon.”
He said they had tried to rebuild their nuclear program and continue to develop their long-range missiles that can now threaten “our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland..”
Appeal to the Iranian people Trump also addressed the Iranian people in what he described as the opening phase of a conflict with an uncertain outcome:
“To the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside.
“Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generation.”
He urged the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the Iranian police to lay down weapons and have complete immunity, “or in the alternative, face certain death.”
He acknowledged that “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost” and the US military could 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,” he added.
The president is currently at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after spending Friday afternoon in Texas at a rally with refinery and processing plant workers.
Before departing for Texas, Trump said he was dissatisfied with how Tehran was negotiating its nuclear program but admitted he had not yet made “a final decision” on whether to attack Iran, despite satellite images showing military movements that suggested preparations for a possible strike. EFE
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