Trump vows to ‘avenge’ fallen troops in Iran war as he issues chilling ultimatum in address to the nation

Donald Trump vowed to ‘avenge’ US troops killed in the war in Iran, issued a new ultimatum to the enemy and implored America to back his battle for ‘freedom’ in his second address to the nation in 48 hours.

‘America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically, civilization,’ Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago resort on Sunday after the deaths of three service personnel in Kuwait.

Trump told Iran’s leaders to give up the fight which has exploded across the Middle East, with missiles raining down on Israel, Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, and on American military bases in the region.

‘These intolerable threats will not continue any longer. I once again urge the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian military police, to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death,’ the President said.

He urged the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the Islamic regime, saying: ‘Be brave, be bold, be heroic and take back your country.’

Trump appealed to Americans to support the war amid growing discontent among his Republican allies and disastrous polling showing most Americans oppose the war ahead of crucial midterm elections in November. 

‘We’re undertaking this massive operation not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children, just as our ancestors have done for us many, many years ago,’ the President said.

‘This is the duty and the burden of a free people. These actions are right and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons.’

 

Trump called the three service members ‘true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, even as we continue the righteous mission for which they gave their lives.’

He added: ‘Sadly, there will likely be more, before it ends. That´s the way it is. Likely be more.’

The US and Israel pounded targets across Iran on Sunday, dropping massive bombs on the country’s ballistic missile sites and wiping out warships as part of an intensifying military campaign after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Blasts rattled windows across the country and sent plumes of smoke high into the sky above the capital city of Tehran.

More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the strikes that killed Khamenei and other senior leaders, Iranian leaders have said.

Israel’s rescue services said nine people were killed and 28 wounded in a strike that hit a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 11. Another 11 people were still missing after the strike, police said.

But the attacks on Iran showed no signs of relenting as the US and Israel took aim at key military, political and intelligence targets in what appeared to be a widening war that carried the potential for a prolonged conflict that could envelop the Middle East and destabilize it.

The strikes, the second time in eight months that the US and Israel had combined against Iran, represented a startling show of military might for a president who swept into office on an ‘America First’ platform and vowed to keep out of ‘forever wars.’ 

Israel, which had pledged ‘nonstop’ strikes, said it was increasing its attacks, with 100 fighter jets simultaneously striking targets in Tehran, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters at a briefing.

The targets included buildings belonging to Iran’s air force, its missile command and its internal security force, which violently quashed anti-government protests in January.

The US military, meanwhile, said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs.

Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been ‘largely destroyed.’

In an indication that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said Sunday they were ready to work with the US to help stop Iran’s attacks. 

Leaders of the countries said in a joint statement that they were ‘appalled’ by Iran´s ‘reckless’ strikes on their allies.

In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program.

But the killing of Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.

Trump, despite encouraging an uprising, signaled Sunday that he was open to dialogue with Iran’s new leadership.

‘They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,’ he told The Atlantic.

In Tehran, there was little sign that Iranians had heeded Trump’s call for an uprising against the government.

The streets were largely deserted as people sheltered during heavy airstrikes, witnesses told The Associated Press, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution. 

The paramilitary Basij, which has played a central role in crushing protests, has set up checkpoints across the city, they said.

Two powerful explosions were heard in Tehran’s Niavaran neighborhood late Sunday.

An eyewitness in the city said that the windows of their apartment shook violently, and residents came out onto the streets fearing it was too dangerous to stay inside. 

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Video footage from Tehran showed plumes of smoke filling the skyline, and the official IRNA news agency reported that parts of the building of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) were struck Sunday.

In southern Iran, at least 165 people were killed Saturday when a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, IRNA reported.

The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area. The US military said it was looking into the reports.

US Central Command confirmed on Sunday that three service members died and five others sustained serious injuries. Others sustained minor injuries and concussions.

The troops were killed in Kuwait, US officials told NBC News. 

As supreme leader, Khamenei had final say on all major policies since 1989. He led Iran’s clerical establishment and the Revolutionary Guard, the two main centers of power in the governing theocracy.

The CIA had been tracking the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including Khamenei, for months, according to a person familiar with the operation who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of the strikes was adjusted in part because of that information, the person said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a prerecorded message that a new leadership council had begun its work. The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said a new supreme leader would be chosen in ‘one or two days.’

A senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said Trump was eventually willing to talk but that the operation would continue unabated for now.

As word spread of Khamenei’s death, some in Tehran could be seen cheering from rooftops, witnesses said. Others mourned as a black flag was raised over the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad.

An Iranian medical professional in northern Iran said he and colleagues spent the early hours of Sunday celebrating Khamenei’s death indoors because armed security forces are still heavily deployed in his city.

There were forces stopping and interrogating people celebrating in their cars, but there was no gunfire, said the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

‘It was one of the best nights, if not the best night of our lives,’ the doctor said in a voice message from the city of Rasht. In fact, ‘it was actually my first time ever smoking a cigarette. It was a very, very nice time. We didn’t sleep at all. And we don’t even feel tired.’

Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, blamed the U.S. and Israel for starting the war. He said he had spoken to his counterparts in the Gulf countries and urged them to pressure the U.S. and Israel to end it.

‘You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,’ Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address. ‘We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.’

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades.

The president insisted he wanted a deal to constrain Iran´s nuclear program while the country struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests.

An Israeli military official described Saturday’s mission as the result of months of ‘extremely high coordination’ with the US.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a covert operation, said a variety of factors created a ‘golden opportunity’ to take out much of Iran’s leadership. 

Those factors included weeks of training and monitoring the movements of senior figures, along with ‘real time intelligence’ that the targets were gathered together.

The results, the official said, were near-simultaneous strikes, within 60 seconds of one another, in three locations 1,000 miles from Israel that killed Khamenei and some 40 senior figures, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard and the country´s defense minister.