On Thursday night, the world watched as Israel launched extensive air strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Operation Rising Lion reportedly took out key nuclear scientists and members of Iran’s military leadership.
The operation, which is continuing into Friday, came after President Donald Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give Iran 60 days for negotiation. Operation Rising Lion commenced on Day 61.
Throughout Thursday night, we awaited a statement from Trump. In our internal chats on Slack, members of the PJ Media team anticipated that Trump’s statement, when it came, would be a big one. Finally, the president broke his silence in the early hours of Friday with two posts on Truth Social.
In the first post at 5:56 a.m. ET, Trump lamented that the Iranian leadership wouldn’t make a deal:
I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to “just do it,” but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! 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. 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. God Bless You All!
In the second post at 7:36 a.m. ET, the president reiterated that there’s still time for Iran to negotiate:
Two months ago I gave Iran a 60 day ultimatum to “make a deal.” They should have done it! Today is day 61. I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!
Related: Israel Bombs Iran in Preemptive Strike [UPDATED]
Axios claims that Israel and the U.S. coordinated on the strikes, even though Israel acted unilaterally:
- Two Israeli officials claimed to Axios that Trump and his aides were only pretending to oppose an Israeli attack in public — and didn’t express opposition in private. “We had a clear U.S. green light,” one claimed.
- The goal, they say, was to convince Iran that no attack was imminent and make sure Iranians on Israel’s target list wouldn’t move to new locations.
- Netanyahu’s aides even briefed Israeli reporters that Trump had tried to put the brakes on an Israeli strike in a call on Monday, when in reality the call dealt with coordination ahead of the attack, Israeli officials now say.
However, Axios adds that “The U.S. side has not confirmed any of that.” It will be interesting to see if U.S. officials confirm any of those assertions.
Stay tuned as we see what happens next. We’ll report if President Trump has any more to say about the strikes and their aftermath.
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