- 4 hours ago
Trump also expressed gratitude toward regional partners, adding that the US won't let Gulf Arab allies, Israel, get hurt or fail.
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00:02As we speak this evening, it's been just one month since the United States military began
00:09Operation Epic Fury, targeting the world's number one state sponsor of terror, Iran.
00:16In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming
00:23victories on the battlefield, victories like few people have ever seen before.
00:28Tonight, Iran's navy is gone.
00:32Their air force is in ruins.
00:35Their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime they led, are now dead.
00:43Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak.
00:51Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons,
00:57factories, and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.
01:04Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses.
01:10In a matter of weeks, our enemies are losing in America, as it has been for five years under my
01:18presidency is winning, and now winning bigger than ever before.
01:24Before discussing this current situation, I also want to thank our troops for the masterful job they did
01:30in taking the country of Venezuela in a matter of minutes, that it was quick, lethal, violent, and
01:37respected by everyone all over the world.
01:40After rebuilding our military during my first term, we have by far the strongest military anywhere in the world.
01:48And now we're working along with Venezuela and our, in a true sense, joint venture partners.
01:55We're getting along incredibly well in the production and sale of massive amounts of oil and gas,
02:01the second largest reserves on Earth after the United States of America.
02:06America. We're now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help.
02:14We don't have to be there. We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have, but we're there
02:19to help
02:19our allies. Tonight, I want to provide an update on the tremendous progress our warriors have made in Iran
02:27and discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and the security of the free world.
02:35From the very first day I announced my campaign for president in 2015, I have vowed that I would never
02:44allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This fanatical regime has been chanting death to America,
02:52death to Israel for 47 years. Their proxies were behind the murder of 241 Americans in the marine barracks
03:02bombing in Beirut, the slaughter of hundreds of our service members with roadside bombs.
03:08They were involved in the attack on the USS Cole, and they carried out the countless other heinous acts,
03:16including the blood, just horrible, bloody atrocities of October 7th in Israel, something that most people
03:26have never seen anything like it. This murderous regime also recently killed 45,000 of their own people
03:33who were protesting in Iran. 45,000 dead. For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an
03:41intolerable threat. The most violent and thuggish regime on earth would be free to carry out their
03:49campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield. I will never
03:56let that happen, and neither should any of our past presidents. This situation has been going on for 47
04:05years and should have been handled long before I arrived in office. I did many things during my two
04:13terms in office to stop the quest for nuclear weapons by Iran first, and perhaps most importantly, I killed
04:21General Qasem Soleimani in my first term. He was an evil genius, a brilliant person, a horrible human being,
04:31however, the father of the roadside bomb, and he lived just horrible what he did. Iran would have been
04:41perhaps in far better, stronger position. He lived, we would have had probably a different conversation
04:47tonight, but you know what? We'd still be winning and winning big. And then very importantly, I terminated
04:53Barack Hussein Obama's Iran nuclear deal, a disaster. Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash,
05:02green, green cash, took it out of banks from Virginia, D.C., and Maryland, all the cash they had.
05:10He flew it by airplanes in an attempt to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work.
05:16They laughed at our president and went on with their mission to have a nuclear bomb.
05:21His Iran deal would have led to a colossal arsenal of massive nuclear weapons for Iran.
05:27They would have had them years ago, and they would have used them. It would have been a different world.
05:33There would have been no Middle East and no Israel right now, in my opinion, the opinion of a lot
05:38of
05:38great experts, had I not terminated that terrible deal. I was so honored to do it. I was so proud
05:45to do
05:45and it was so bad right from the beginning. Essentially, I did what no other president was
05:50willing to do. They made mistakes, and I am correcting them. My first preference was always
05:58the path of diplomacy, yet the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and
06:04rejected every attempt at an agreement. For this reason, in June, I ordered a strike on Iran's key
06:11nuclear facilities, and Operation Midnight Hammer. Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
06:18Those beautiful B-2 bombers performed magnificently. We totally obliterated those nuclear sites.
06:26The regime then sought to rebuild their nuclear program at a totally different location, making
06:32clear they had no intention of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons. They were also rapidly building a
06:40vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles, and would soon have had missiles that could reach
06:47the American homeland, Europe, and virtually any other place on Earth. Iran's strategy was so obvious.
06:54They wanted to produce as many missiles as possible, and they did, with the longest range possible.
07:01And they had some weapons that nobody believed they had. We just learned that out. We took them out,
07:07we took them all out, so that no one would really dare stop them. And they raced for a nuclear
07:13bomb,
07:13a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapon like nobody's ever seen before. They were right at the doorstep.
07:20For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. But in the end, those are just words
07:28if you're not willing to take action when the time comes. As I stated in my announcement of Operation Epic
07:35Fury, our objectives are very simple and clear. We are systematically dismantling the regime's
07:42ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran's
07:49navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their air force and their missile program at levels
07:58never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base. We've done all of it.
08:03Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten.
08:10Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran military, crush their ability to support terrorist
08:16proxies, and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb. Our armed forces have been extraordinary.
08:23There's never been anything like it militarily. Everyone is talking about it. And tonight,
08:29I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion. As we celebrate
08:37this progress, we think especially of the 13 American warriors who have laid down their lives in this fight
08:44to prevent our children from ever having to face a nuclear Iran.
08:49And twice this past month, I've traveled to Dover Air Force Base. And it's been something. I wanted to be
08:57with those
08:58heroes as they return to American soil. And I was with them and their families, their parents, their wives,
09:05their husbands. We salute them. And now we must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their
09:13lives. And every single one of the people, their loved ones said, please, sir, please finish the job.
09:20Every one of them. And we are going to finish the job. And we're going to finish it very fast.
09:25We're
09:25getting very close. I want to thank our allies in the Middle East, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait,
09:34and Bahrain. They've been great. And we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape or
09:42form.
09:43Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home.
09:50This short term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged
09:56terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do
10:01with the conflict. This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons. They
10:08will use them and they will use them quickly. It would lead to decades of extortion, economic pain,
10:15and instability worse than we can ever imagine. The United States has never been better prepared
10:21economically to confront this threat. You all know that we built the strongest economy in history.
10:28We're going through it right now, the strongest in history. In one year, we've taken a dead and
10:35crippled country. I hate to say that, but we were dead and crippled country after the
10:42last administration and made it the hottest country anywhere in the world by far with no inflation,
10:49record setting investments coming into the United States over 18 trillion dollars and the highest stock
10:55market ever with 53 all-time record highs in just one year. It all positioned us to get rid of
11:04a
11:04cancer that has long simmered. It's known as the nuclear Iran and they didn't know what was coming.
11:12They've never imagined it. Remember, because of our Drill Baby Drill program, America has plenty of gas.
11:18We have so much gas. Under my leadership, we are number one producer of oil and gas on the planet
11:25without even discussing the millions of barrels that we're getting from Venezuela. Because of the
11:31Trump administration's policies, we produce more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined.
11:38Think of that, Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. And that number will soon be substantially higher than that.
11:46There's no country like us anywhere in the world and we're in great shape for the future. The United States
11:52imports
11:53almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any in the future. We don't need it. We
12:00haven't needed it
12:01and we don't need it. We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated both militarily and economically
12:11and every other way. And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take
12:18care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily.
12:25We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.
12:32So to those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran,
12:40we had to do it ourselves. I have a suggestion. Number one, buy oil from the United States of America.
12:46We have plenty. We have so much. And number two, build up some delayed courage. Should have done it
12:52before. Should have done it with us as we asked. Go to the Strait and just take it, protect it,
12:59use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be
13:06easy. And in any event, when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. It'll just open
13:13up naturally. They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and
13:19rebuild. It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices
13:25will rapidly go back up. They haven't come down very much. Frankly, they came down a little bit,
13:31but they've had some very good days over the last couple of days. We've done actually much better
13:36than I thought. But we had to take that little journey to Iran to get rid of this horrible threat.
13:42With our historic tax cuts, where people are just now talking about receiving larger refunds
13:48than they ever thought possible. They are getting so much more money than they thought. That's from
13:53the great big beautiful bill. Our economy is strong and improving by the day, and it will soon be roaring
13:59back like never before. It will top the levels that it was a month ago. I've made clear from the
14:06beginning
14:06of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the
14:13progress we've made. I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military
14:19objectives shortly, very shortly. We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.
14:26We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are
14:33ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of
14:41all of all of their original leaders' death. They're all dead. The new group is less radical and much more
14:50reasonable. Yet if during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If
14:57there
14:57is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and
15:03probably simultaneously. We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all,
15:10because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and
15:18it would be gone and there's not a thing they could do about it. They have no anti-aircraft equipment.
15:25Their radar is 100% annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force. The nuclear sites that we
15:34obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the
15:40nuclear
15:41dust and we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control. If we see them make a
15:48move, even a move for it, we'll hit them with missiles very hard again. We have all the cards. They
15:55have none.
15:56It's very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. American involvement in World War I
16:04lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days.
16:14The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years,
16:22five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.
16:30We are in this military operation so powerful, so brilliant against one of the most powerful countries
16:36for 32 days. And the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat.
16:46They were the bully of the Middle East, but they're the bully no longer. This is a true investment in
16:53your children and your grandchildren's future. The whole world is watching and they can't leave the
16:59power, strength and brilliance. They just can't believe what they're seeing. They leave it to your
17:06imagination, but they can't believe what they're seeing, the brilliance of the United States military.
17:12Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the
17:17wickedness of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail. Because of the actions we have
17:23taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran's sinister threat to America and the world. And I'll tell you,
17:31the world is watching. And when we do, when it's all over, the United States will be safer,
17:37stronger, stronger, more prosperous, and greater than it has ever been before.
17:42May God bless the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. And may God bless
17:47the United States of America. Thank you very much and good night.
17:52May God bless the United States of America.
17:52May God bless the United States of America.
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