President Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on Iran and making it clear that the next round of Israeli strikes will be even more devastating if the regime refuses to back down.
In a no-nonsense post on Truth Social, Trump warned Iran that “the time to make a deal is now, or face the full weight of what’s coming,” Fox News reported.
“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump wrote.
“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Trump didn’t mince words. He reminded the world that the United States makes the most advanced and lethal military equipment on the planet, and that Israel not only has it, but knows exactly how to use it.
“I warned them,” Trump said. “The United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the world, BY FAR, and Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come, and they know how to use it.”
Trump also called out the Iranian hardliners who talked tough before the strikes began.
“Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse.”
As the U.S. and Iran prepare for another round of nuclear talks in Muscat, Oman this weekend, it’s unclear whether the negotiations will even continue in light of the escalating conflict. The two sides remain completely divided over Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, even when claimed for so-called peaceful purposes.
Before the strikes, Trump had reportedly advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let the negotiations play out.
“I think it would blow it,” Trump said when asked if a premature Israeli strike could derail the talks. Then he added, “It might help it actually, but it also could blow it.”
Following the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement stressing that the US had no involvement in the strikes and urging Iran not to target US installations. Previously, the US had evacuated non-essential embassy personnel from Iraq, anticipating an imminent assault.
Iran launched around 100 drones toward Israel on Friday morning in a counterattack, which Israel intercepted.
Netanyahu disclosed that during the onslaught against the regime, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) targeted a critical nuclear plant, Natanz.
Among those killed were top nuclear scientists and military leaders, including General Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking military official and chief of staff of the IRGC, as well as the majority of the IRGC air force high command, who were meeting in an underground bunker at the time.
The initial round of attacks struck more than 100 sites, with 200 Israeli fighter planes delivering “330 different munitions,” according to the IDF, adding that the operations will continue for many days.
During a phone interview, Trump told Fox News’s chief political anchor Bret Baier that he was aware that Israel was going to conduct preemptive strikes on Iran before they happened.
“I just spoke to President Trump. One thing the president was aware of was Israel’s action before it happened. He gave me a quote. He said: ‘Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb. We’re hoping to get back to the negotiating table.’ The President is looking to see if there is retaliation… the US will defend itself and Israel if Iran retaliates,” Baier said.
Israeli airstrikes on Iran killed three of the country’s senior military commanders: Hossein Salami, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces, and Gholam-Ali Rashid, Commander of the Iranian Emergency Command.