Fresh from ordering military strikes on Iran, Donald Trump on Saturday raised the specter of further attacks against Iran if its leadership did not engage in peace talks in a sweeping and at times ominous televised late night address delivered from the White House.
The remarks suggested that the president, who has repeatedly said he wanted to bring peace to global conflicts, at least partly viewed the strikes against Iran’s enrichment facilities as a tactic to force negotiations – just days after he had suggested he would given Iran two weeks before deciding on an attack.
Flanked by his vice-president, JD Vance; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Trump said from the Cross Hall of the White House that the strikes were aimed at destroying Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to a level where it could be used in nuclear weapons.
Trump’s address sparked a concerned reaction from some advisers in his orbit who had cautioned against US involvement against Iran because of the potential for the US military to become dragged into a protracted conflict to topple Iran’s leadership as Israel has pushed.
Trump claimed in the speech that the three nuclear facilities in Iran bombed by the US were “completely and totally obliterated.” But the address was short on detail about the bombing operation against three nuclear sites at Natanz and Fordow, the key facility buried deep underground, and at Isfahan, where Iran was believed to have stored supplies of uranium that had been enriched to near-weapons grade.
Trump also appeared to offer some justification for the bombing run, arguing that Iran posed a direct threat not just to Israel, but also the US.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/21/trump-further-attacks-iran
