Washington — President Trump on Friday urged Iran to “make a deal, before there is nothing left” after Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, senior military leaders and research scientists, the opening attacks in what Israeli officials said is part of a major operation against Iran.
In his first public comments since Israel’s military began its assault, Mr. Trump urged Iran to to agree to new restrictions on its nuclear program. The president has previously said Iran cannot be allowed to enrich uranium, a term Iran is not willing to accept.
Steve Witkoff, the president’s Middle East envoy, was set to hold a sixth round of talks with Iran in the Gulf state of Oman on Sunday.
“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,” Mr. Trump said in one post to his social media site, Truth Social, “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.”
The president said he had warned Iran about what would follow if it failed to reach a deal on its nuclear program.
“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,” he continued. “Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
In a second Truth Social post, Mr. Trump suggested that he would give Iran a “second chance” to agree to limits on its nuclear program after initially setting a 60-day deadline.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was not involved in Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, but he delivered a warning to Tehran: “Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”
In a video statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahi dubbed the attack “Operation Rising Lion” and said it is a targeted military operation “to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.” Iranian state television said the head of its Revolution Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, were killed in the strikes.
Netanyahu said the assault “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”
Iran took its own retaliatory action Friday, launching more than 100 drones at Israel, the Israeli military said. But Brigadier General Effie Defrin, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said the country’s air defenses were “working to intercept the threats.”
Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had spoken with several world leaders overnight and is expected to speak soon with Mr. Trump and others.
House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced his support for Israel on Friday morning, saying the U.S. ally was “clearly within their right” to do what they did.
“Israel and the United States have been united, including in our shared insistence that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon,” Johnson wrote on X. “President Trump and his administration have worked tirelessly to ensure that outcome. Unfortunately, Iran has refused to agree and even declared yesterday its intent to build a new enrichment facility. Israel decided it needed to take action to defend itself. They were clearly within their right to do so. Iran will face grave consequences if it responds by unjustifiably targeting U.S. interests.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Israel’s strikes “an escalation that is deeply concerning and will inevitably invite counterattacks” and said the Trump administration “must quickly move to deescalate the situation.”
“This risks not only U.S. negotiations with Iran, but the safety of American service members, diplomats, their families and ex-pats around the region,” she said in a statement. “I agree with President Trump’s instinct to distance the U.S. from Israel’s actions, but Iran and its proxies are unlikely to differentiate the U.S. from Israel.”
