Trump says Iran’s key nuclear facilities were ‘totally obliterated’

CNN: President Donald Trump said the objective of Saturday’s strikes against three Iranian nuclear sites was to stop the “nuclear threat.”

“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror,” Trump said in an address from the White House Saturday night.

Trump’s consideration of strikes over the past week had divided his top allies, splitting the MAGA-aligned isolationists fearful of another American war in the Middle East from more hawkish conservative voices like Sen. Lindsey Graham. But all along, Trump was adamant that Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon.

“For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over 1,000 people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate,” Trump said.

He said that “so many were killed by their general, Qasem Soleimani.” Trump ordered a strike in Iraq in January 2020 to kill Soleimani, a decision he said at the time was aimed at deterrence.

“I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue,” Trump said Saturday.