Iran-Israel Ceasefire Holding; Trump Defends Strikes On Iran’s Nuclear Sites

By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM/THE HAGUE (Worthy News) – As a ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding Wednesday, U.S. President Donald J. Trump said it underscored the effectiveness of his policy of peace through strength.

Trump played down suggestions that his recent strikes on Iran‘s nuclear facilities
did not destroy the core components of its nuclear program.

Speaking at the NATO military alliance summit in the Dutch city of The Hague, he acknowledged that the intelligence about their impact was “inconclusive” and preliminary.

However, he maintained that the U.S. attacks caused “total obliteration.”

Trump drew a comparison Wednesday between his strikes on Iran over the weekend and the U.S. use of nuclear bombs in Japan to end World War II.

He said, like his recent strikes on Iran, both attacks were used to successfully end wars.

“I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing that ended that war,” Trump said.

1940s COMPARISON

He suggested that both his recent strikes and those in 1945 “ended that with the war. If we didn’t take that out, they would have been they’d be fighting right now.”

His remarks came as Trump tried to underscore the significance of his strikes, which he said set back Iran’s nuclear program by decades. “I don’t think they’ll ever do it again,” Trump stressed about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “They just went through hell. I think they’ve had it. The last thing they want to do is enrich.”

He said he was awaiting a report from Israel on the damage assessments from Iran, which he stressed would vindicate his claims of “total obliteration.”

“You know they [Israel] have guys that go in there, after the hit, and they say it was total obliteration,” apparently referring to Israeli intelligence. “Israel is doing a report on it now, I understand, and I was told that they said that it was total obliteration.”

Sitting next to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump appeared irritated when confronted with a leaked preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment suggesting that the massive strikes were not as effective as hoped. The assessment suggested that the U.S. airstrikes did not destroy Iran’s nuclear capability butonly set it back by a few months. When asked about the intelligence reports, Trump ironically said, “They really don’t know.”

He also stressed that the Iran-Israel ceasefire is holding despite both sidesaccusing each other of violations leading up to the truce, including an attack on southern Israel that killed at least four and injured more than 20 people.

Trump said he had allowed them to fight “for a while”. “And then daddy has to use sometimes strong language” to stop them, joked NATO Secretary-General Rutte.

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