US President Donald Trump warned that Washington would bomb Iran again if it restarts its nuclear program, speaking on Sunday at a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of the US Navy at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
“We’ll have to take care of that too if they do,” Trump said, referring to Tehran’s potential resumption of nuclear activity. “You want to do that, it’s fine, but we’re going to take care of that and we’re not going to wait so long,” he told sailors gathered at the base.
Trump praised the June 22 US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities -- codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer -- as perfectly executed, saying American B-2 bombers and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles hit every single target.
The operation targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, following an Israeli air campaign that began on June 13 against Iranian military and nuclear-related sites.
“The B2s, what they did. Those beautiful flying wings, what they did, they hit every single target. And just in case, we shot 30 Tomahawks out of a submarine,” Trump said at the event.
Iran had been within a month of developing a nuclear weapon before the strikes, Trump said, adding that US forces had prevented Tehran from crossing that threshold.
“They were going to have a nuclear weapon within a month,” Trump said. “And now they can start the operation all over again, but I hope they don’t because we’ll have to take care of that too if they do, I let them know that.”
Operation was decades in the making
Trump told the audience that B-2 pilots informed him the Pentagon had been planning such an operation for 22 years, saying no previous president had “the guts to do it.”
Trump’s comments come as his administration presses Iran to halt uranium enrichment and curb its ballistic missile program, demands Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
The president’s warning suggests Washington is prepared for further confrontation if Iran resumes nuclear activity, highlighting a renewed phase of military and diplomatic brinkmanship between the two countries.
