Trump warns more U.S. troops will "likely" die in Iran attacks
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Screenshot: President Trump/Truth Social
President Trump presented on Sunday his case for going to war with Iran and toppling the current regime — and warned more U.S. soldiers will likely die before the operation ends.
Why it matters: Trump is publicly bracing the country for a sustained, costly military campaign, a sign America has entered an open-ended war with a rising human cost.
- Trump touted the elimination of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and framed the war as the only way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed terrorist state.
Driving the news: Trump spoke hours after the U.S. military announced three U.S. service members were killed and five wounded in the fighting.
- "Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends," the president said in a six-minute video posted to Truth Social. "… [W]e'll do everything possible where that won't be the case, but America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization."
What he's saying: Trump framed the war as a generational necessity, arguing Iran's nuclear ambitions, its financing of terrorist groups and its threats against Israel left the U.S. no choice.
- A nuclear-armed Iran "would be a dire threat to every American," he said.
- "These actions are right, and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons," he said. "These intolerable threats will not continue any longer."
- Trump pushed back on the critics of the war, saying the strikes were "not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children."
State of play: Trump presented Israel's killing of Khamenei as the the most important achievement of the war so far.
- He said Khamenei "had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands" and was responsible for killing of innocent people around the world.
- "Last night, all over Iran, the voices of the Iranian people could be heard cheering and celebrating in the streets when his death was announced," Trump said.
- Trump claimed thousands of Iranian military officers want to surrender and receive immunity. "They're calling by the thousands," he said.
What to watch: The president said combat operations will continue "until all of our objectives are achieved."
- "They could have done something two weeks ago, but they just couldn't get there," he said referring to the failed U.S.–Iran talks that ended Thursday with no deal.
What's next: Trump called on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian military and the Iranian police to lay down their arms and receive full immunity "or face certain death. It will be certain. Death won't be pretty."
- He called on Iranians "to seize this moment, to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country."
- Trump said he fulfilled his promise he made to Iranian protesters in January that "help is on the way."
- "America is with you. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help," he said.
Go deeper: Oil producers vow to boost output as world gauges Iran fallout
