00:00Two days ago, under the direction and direct orders of President Donald J. Trump, the Department
00:05of War launched Operation Epic Fury, the most lethal, most complex, and most precise aerial
00:12operation in history.
00:14For 47 long years, the expansionist and Islamist regime in Tehran has waged a savage, one-sided
00:21war against America.
00:23They didn't always declare it openly, except for their constant chance of death to America.
00:28They did it through the blood of our people.
00:31Car bombs in Beirut, rocket attacks on our ships, murders at our embassies, roadside bombs
00:38in Iraq and Afghanistan, funded and armed by Iranian Quds Force and IRGC killers.
00:47My generation of veterans carry the names of brothers who never came home.
00:51Brothers butchered by Iranian-backed roadside bombs and well-armed militias, thousands of
00:59our own.
01:00We didn't start this war.
01:02But under President Trump, we are finishing it.
01:06Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their Ayatollah and his death cult.
01:14It took the 47th president, a fighter who always puts America first, to finally draw the line
01:20after 47 years of Iranian belligerence.
01:24He reminded the world, as he has time and time again, being an American means something
01:29unbreakable.
01:30If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on Earth, we will hunt you down without
01:37apology and without hesitation.
01:39And we will kill you.
01:43President Trump has also been very consistent.
01:46Crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons.
01:54It's common sense.
01:56Many have said it, but it takes guts to actually enforce it, and our president has guts.
02:04Iran's stubborn and self-evident nuclear pursuits, their targeting of global shipping lanes and
02:09their swelling arsenal of ballistic missiles and killer drones were no longer, are no longer
02:15tolerable risks.
02:16Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear,
02:23nuclear, blackmail ambitions.
02:25Let me say that again, a conventional shield for their nuclear, blackmail ambitions.
02:32Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs.
02:36Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb.
02:43It almost worked under Obama and his terrible deal, but not under this president.
02:50It turns out the regime who chanted death to America and death to Israel was gifted death
02:58from America and death from Israel.
03:02This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world
03:10is better off for it.
03:11Today, in their desperation, the enemy is unmasked.
03:17As Iranian missiles and drones rained down indiscriminately on the hotels, airports, apartments, and other
03:25civilian targets of their neighbors.
03:27Cowardly terrorist tactics from a regime that for decades has trafficked in cowardly terrorist
03:35tactics, lies, death, and destruction to this day.
03:40The Iranian leadership has built nothing.
03:43Except proxies and missiles and drones and deeply buried nuclear factories and facilities.
03:49Peaceful nuclear ambitions do not need to be buried underneath mountains.
03:56Last June, Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated their nuclear program to rubble.
04:03Afterward, we told them plainly, that's it, now make a deal.
04:06They arrogantly refused.
04:08We said, rebuild it and we'll stop you again, this time far worse.
04:13Well, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, they bent over backwards
04:19for real diplomacy, offering pathway after pathway to peace.
04:22I watched it, I was there.
04:24They tried over and over and over again, earnest attempts at peace.
04:30The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal.
04:36But Tehran was not negotiating.
04:39They were stalling, buying time to reload their missile stockpiles and restart their nuclear
04:45ambitions.
04:45Their goal, hold us hostage, threatening to strike our forces.
04:50Well, President Trump doesn't play those games.
04:55And as Secretary Rubio said after the Maduro raid, if you don't know, now you know.
05:01President Trump puts America and Americans first.
05:06He doesn't hesitate and neither do our troops.
05:09The mission of Operation Epic Fury is laser focused.
05:12Destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their Navy and other
05:18security infrastructure, and they will never have nuclear weapons.
05:23We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly, and unapologetically.
05:30With every passing day, our capabilities get stronger and Iran's get weaker.
05:35We set the terms of this war from start to finish.
05:40Our ambitions are not utopian.
05:43They are realistic, scoped to our interests and the defense of our people and our allies.
05:51Speaking of people, we hope the Iranian people take advantage of this incredible opportunity.
05:58President Trump has been clear, now is your time.
06:02To Iranian security forces, choose wisely.
06:08President Trump has also been clear about your fate in either direction.
06:15To the media outlets and political left screaming, endless wars, stop.
06:21This is not Iraq.
06:23This is not endless.
06:24I was there for both.
06:27Our generation knows better and so does this president.
06:31He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb.
06:34And he's right.
06:36This is the opposite.
06:39This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission.
06:43Destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy, no nukes.
06:48Israel has clear missions as well, for which we are grateful.
06:53Capable partners, as we've said since the beginning, capable partners are good partners.
06:59Unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls,
07:05hemming and hawing about the use of force.
07:09America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal
07:14and precise air power campaign in history.
07:19B2s, fighters, drones, missiles, and of course, classified effects.
07:25All on our terms, with maximum authorities.
07:29No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise,
07:34no politically correct wars.
07:37We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives.
07:42As the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties.
07:48War is hell and always will be.
07:52A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured.
07:57The absolute best of America.
08:01May we prosecute the remainder of this operation in a manner that honors them.
08:08No apologies, no hesitation, epic fury for them and the thousands of Americans before them,
08:18taken too soon by Iranian radicals.
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