Trump’s remarks in full after US strikes on Iran

President Donald Trump delivered brief remarks from the White House late Saturday after the US military carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Here is what Trump said in full:”A short time ago the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.”Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror. “Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. “For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America, Death to Israel.'”They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty, we lost over 1,000 people. “And hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate, in particular, so many were killed by their general Qasem Soleimani. “I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue. “I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. “I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done. “And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.”Hopefully we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that’s so. “I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack. “With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. “Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. “But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. “There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.”Tomorrow, General Caine, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, will have a press conference at 8 am at the Pentagon. “And I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God. I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military, protect them. “God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.”

Trump says US bombs Iran nuclear sites, joining Israeli campaign

President Donald Trump said the US military launched a “very successful attack” Sunday on three Iranian nuclear sites including the Fordo uranium enrichment plant, as Washington joined Israel’s air campaign against Tehran.Trump said a “full payload of BOMBS” was dropped on the underground facility at Fordo and he was set to address the nation at 10:00 pm on Saturday Washington time (0200 GMT Sunday) following his surprise announcement of the strikes.The fresh US military entanglement in the Middle East comes despite Trump’s promises to avoid another of his country’s “forever wars” in the region. Iran had vowed to retaliate against US forces in the region if Washington got involved. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.”A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”Trump added that “all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors.” Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordo plant as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked.Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attacks, while the United States also gave key ally Israel a “heads up” before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP.In a second post announcing his address to the nation from the White House, Trump said that “IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR.”He described it as a “historic” moment for the United States, Israel and the world.Earlier Saturday there were reports that US B-2 bombers — which carry so-called “bunker buster” bombs — were headed out of the United States across the Pacific.Trump did not say what kind of US planes or munitions were involved.- ‘More devastating’ -Trump said on Thursday that he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join Israel’s campaign — but the decision came far sooner.The US president had also stepped up his rhetoric against Iran in recent days, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon.Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned earlier Saturday of a “more devastating” retaliation should Israel’s nine-day bombing campaign continue, saying the Islamic republic would not halt its nuclear program “under any circumstances.”Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.On Saturday, Israel said it had attacked Isfahan for a second time, with the UN nuclear watchdog reporting that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop had been hit.Later Saturday Iran’s Mehr news agency said Israel had hit the southern city of Shiraz, which hosts military bases.Iran’s Revolutionary Guard meanwhile announced early Sunday that “suicide drones” had been launched against “strategic targets” across Israel.Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear program “cannot be taken away… by threats or war.”- ‘Continued aggression’ -In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian said “we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” he added, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Istanbul on Saturday for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the conflict.Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany had met Araghchi in Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume nuclear talks with the United States that had been derailed by the war.Iran’s Huthi allies in Yemen on Saturday threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war, despite a recent ceasefire agreement.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Friday that, based on its sources and media reports, at least 657 people had been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians.Iran’s health ministry on Saturday gave a toll of more than 400 people killed in the Israeli strikes.Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel, according to official figures.Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump risked US “entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” while the Israeli army has raised its alert level, permitting only essential activities until further notice.

Trump says US bombs Iran nuclear sites, joining Israeli campaign

President Donald Trump said the US military launched a “very successful attack” Sunday on three Iranian nuclear sites including the Fordo uranium enrichment plant, as Washington joined Israel’s air campaign against Tehran.Trump said a “full payload of BOMBS” was dropped on the underground facility at Fordo and he was set to address the nation at 10:00 pm on Saturday Washington time (0200 GMT Sunday) following his surprise announcement of the strikes.The fresh US military entanglement in the Middle East comes despite Trump’s promises to avoid another of his country’s “forever wars” in the region. Iran had vowed to retaliate against US forces in the region if Washington got involved. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.”A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”Trump added that “all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors.” Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordo plant as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked.Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the attacks, while the United States also gave key ally Israel a “heads up” before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP.In a second post announcing his address to the nation from the White House, Trump said that “IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR.”He described it as a “historic” moment for the United States, Israel and the world.Earlier Saturday there were reports that US B-2 bombers — which carry so-called “bunker buster” bombs — were headed out of the United States across the Pacific.Trump did not say what kind of US planes or munitions were involved.- ‘More devastating’ -Trump said on Thursday that he would decide “within two weeks” whether to join Israel’s campaign — but the decision came far sooner.The US president had also stepped up his rhetoric against Iran in recent days, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon.Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned earlier Saturday of a “more devastating” retaliation should Israel’s nine-day bombing campaign continue, saying the Islamic republic would not halt its nuclear program “under any circumstances.”Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since Israel launched its aerial campaign on June 13, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon.On Saturday, Israel said it had attacked Isfahan for a second time, with the UN nuclear watchdog reporting that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop had been hit.Later Saturday Iran’s Mehr news agency said Israel had hit the southern city of Shiraz, which hosts military bases.Iran’s Revolutionary Guard meanwhile announced early Sunday that “suicide drones” had been launched against “strategic targets” across Israel.Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear program “cannot be taken away… by threats or war.”- ‘Continued aggression’ -In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian said “we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” he added, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Istanbul on Saturday for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the conflict.Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany had met Araghchi in Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume nuclear talks with the United States that had been derailed by the war.Iran’s Huthi allies in Yemen on Saturday threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war, despite a recent ceasefire agreement.The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Friday that, based on its sources and media reports, at least 657 people had been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians.Iran’s health ministry on Saturday gave a toll of more than 400 people killed in the Israeli strikes.Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 25 people in Israel, according to official figures.Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump risked US “entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” while the Israeli army has raised its alert level, permitting only essential activities until further notice.

Ex-members of secret US abortion group fear return to dark era

They were once part of an underground network that helped an estimated 11,000 women get abortions before the US Supreme Court established a constitutional right to the procedure in 1973.More than 50 years on, former members of the “Jane Collective” are watching in disbelief as America slides back toward the era they risked everything to end.”I was crushed,” recalls Abby Pariser, speaking to AFP ahead of the third anniversary on June 24 of the landmark Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade and erased the federal right to terminate a pregnancy.”I was infuriated that they could do this to women,” adds the 80-year-old Pariser at her home in Huntington, a suburb of New York City, wearing a T-shirt declaring “Bold Women. Change History.”Like many of the now-retired women, Pariser devoted her life to defending reproductive rights at a time when abortion was widely illegal in the United States.The story began in Chicago in the late 1960s.Students, mothers, and young professionals — “ordinary women,” as they describe themselves — came together, helping others access clandestine abortions. They risked prison as they negotiated prices with doctors willing to perform the procedures — and some even learned to do them themselves.”It was just unbelievable that this would occur in this time and era, that we would go back to something this devastating,” says a fellow ex-Jane, Sakinah Ahad Shannon, her voice breaking with emotion.The seismic reversal — and the release of the HBO documentary “The Janes” — brought renewed attention to their story. Several former members have since spoken out, recounting the hardships women faced before the Roe ruling.- Mobsters and back-alley surgeries -At the time, access to contraception was severely limited, and the very notion of abortion was steeped in taboo, recalls Laura Kaplan, a former Jane and author of a book on the subject, who now lives in the iconic New York village of Woodstock.Out of public view, women resorted to desperate measures to end unwanted pregnancies — from ingesting poison to seeking help from underground abortionists.The illicit trade was dominated by corrupt doctors and Mafia intermediaries, who charged exorbitant fees. Abortions typically cost around $500, Kaplan remembers.”You could rent a decent one-bedroom apartment in Chicago for $150 a month at the time,” she says. “Just to give you a sense of how expensive abortions were.”Beyond the financial burden, women were often subjected to sexual assault, humiliation, or medical malpractice. Some did not survive.”There were wards in every major city’s public hospitals for women suffering the effects of illegal abortions — whether self-induced or performed by someone else — and they were dying,” Kaplan adds.The Jane network emerged in response to this grim reality, aligned with the broader women’s liberation movement of the time. They adopted pseudonyms, opened a phone hotline, and raised funds to help women who could not afford the procedure. Some later trained to perform dilation and curettage procedures themselves.- Hope -“Women paid $10, $50 — whatever they had in their pockets,” says Kaplan.But in the spring of 1972, seven members of the collective, including Pariser, were arrested during a police raid.”It was scary,” she recalls, describing a night in jail and the disbelief of officers who had stumbled upon an all-female clandestine network.Still, the others pressed on. “We knew what we were doing was committing multiple felonies every day we worked,” Kaplan adds with a smile. “We were well aware of that.”Had Roe not been decided, they could all have spent their lives behind bars — a prospect that, today, no longer feels remote.Since the federal right to abortion was overturned, more than 20 states have banned or sharply curtailed access to the procedure, forcing women to travel across state lines or resort — once again — to illegal means.Such restrictions have already led to multiple preventable deaths from delayed miscarriage care, according to reporting by ProPublica.Access could shrink further with the return to power of President Donald Trump, who takes credit for reshaping the Supreme Court during his first term and paving the way for its reversal on abortion. Observers are closely watching for moves to restrict access to abortion pills, which now account for the majority of terminations.”I think we were very naive,” reflects Pariser, believing the battles of their youth had secured lasting progress.”The people who were shooting doctors and killing them in clinics or churches on Sunday — these are maniacs. These are terrible people.” Just this month, a gunman suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker was reportedly found with a hit list targeting abortion providers, activists and politicians who support access to abortion.Even so, the Janes believe today’s generation of women are better informed, with higher reproductive health literacy and broad access to online resources.”Just like we said no 50 years ago, they’re saying no today — and that’s what gives me hope,” says Ahad Shannon.

Bélarus: l’opposant Sergueï Tikhanovski libéré après une médiation de Washington

Sergueï Tikhanovski, mari de la figure de l’opposition bélarusse en exil Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, a été libéré samedi de prison avec 13 autres personnes, une décision prise “à la demande” de Donald Trump, selon l’autocrate Alexandre Loukachenko qui dirige le Bélarus depuis plus de 30 ans.Il y a cinq ans, M. Tikhanovski avait été au coeur du grand mouvement de contestation contre la réélection de M. Loukachenko, des protestations que ce dernier avait écrasées dans la violence. Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa a publié une vidéo la montrant serrer longuement dans ses bras un homme au crâne rasé, avec en légende: “LIBRE”.”C’est difficile de décrire la joie dans mon coeur”, a-t-elle écrit. “Nous n’en avons pas terminé. 1.150 prisonniers politiques restent derrière les barreaux. Ils doivent être tous libérés”, a-t-elle ajouté.”Il est près de moi, avec les enfants. Notre famille rêvait de cela depuis cinq ans”, a-t-elle ajouté sur Telegram.Sur X, l’oppposante a remercié le président américain Donald Trump et “nos alliés européens” pour “tous leurs efforts”.”Le président a décidé de gracier 14 condamnés. Il s’agissait d’une demande du président des États-Unis”, a déclaré la porte-parole de la présidence bélarusse, Natalia Eismont, à l’agence russe Tass.Dans un message sur sa plateforme Truth Social, le président américain a semblé s’attribuer le mérite de cette libération en écrivant: “Merci Président Trump !”, un message accompagné d’un lien vers un article de presse évoquant la libération de l’opposant.Parmi les 13 autres prisonniers politiques libérés figurent notamment un journaliste du média Radio Free Europe, une professeure d’université, un homme d’affaires et un militant anarchiste, selon l’ONG bélarusse de défense des droits humains Viasna, elle-même persécutée par le pouvoir.La citoyenne suédo-bélarusse Galina Krasnyanskaya, arrêtée en 2023 pour des accusations de soutien à l’Ukraine, a également été libérée, a annoncé le Premier ministre suédois, Ulf Kristersson.Ils se trouvent tous désormais sur le territoire lituanien, a annoncé sur X KÄ™stutis Budrys, le ministre des Affaires étrangères de la Lituanie, frontalière du Bélarus et où vivent de nombreux opposants bélarusses en exil, dont Mme Tikhanovskaïa.- “Rôle crucial” de Washington -“Le rôle des Etats-Unis dans cette libération a été crucial”, a ajouté M. Budrys.L’annonce de la libération est intervenue quelques heures après une rencontre entre M. Loukachenko et l’émissaire américain Keith Kellogg à Minsk, la visite au plus au niveau pour un représentant américain dans cet Etat depuis des années, selon l’agence bélarusse officielle BeltaLe chef de la diplomatie polonaise, Radoslaw Sikorski, où vivent également des dizaines de milliers de Bélarusses ayant fui les répressions, a remercié Keith Kellogg.Depuis son retour au pouvoir, l’administration de Donald Trump s’est rapprochée de la Russie, le principal allié du Bélarus, dont le territoire avait servi de base aux troupes russes pour attaquer l’Ukraine en 2022 et qui est sous le coup de nombreuses sanctions occidentales.Ce réchauffement des relations américano-russes s’est notamment illustré ces derniers mois par la libération ou l’échange de citoyens américains détenus en Russie.- Couple d’opposants -L’opposant Tikhanovski, 46 ans, avait été arrêté en mai 2020 peu avant l’élection présidentielle d’août marquée par des manifestations d’opposition historiques, suivies d’une grande vague de répression ordonnée par le président Alexandre Loukachenko.Blogueur, il animait une populaire chaîne YouTube et voulait défier M. Loukachenko, au pouvoir depuis 1994, lors de cette présidentielle.Après son incarcération, son épouse Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, qui n’avait pas d’expérience politique, avait repris son flambeau et avait mobilisé les foules lors de sa campagne électorale.M. Loukachenko avait remporté le scrutin, avec officiellement 80% des voix. Des dizaines de milliers de personnes ont ensuite manifesté, pendant des semaines, contre sa réélection, dénonçant des fraudes massives.Les autorités ont maté le mouvement avec des milliers d’arrestations, tortures et condamnations.Mme Tikhanovskaïa avait été contrainte à l’exil, sous pression des autorités. Depuis, elle dirige l’opposition depuis l’étranger.En 2021, M. Tikhanovski avait été condamné en à 18 ans de prison pour “organisation d’émeutes” et “incitation à la haine”, puis à 18 mois supplémentaires pour “insubordination”. Il était détenu dans des conditions très strictes, avec très peu de contacts avec l’extérieur. La libération de l’opposant a été qualifiée de “nouvelle fantastique” et de “symbole d’espoir” pour tous les prisonniers politiques au Bélarus, par la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, qui a réitéré son appel à “leur libération immédiate”, sur X.Le ministre allemand des Affaires étrangères, Johann Wadephul, a également salué “une fantastique nouvelle”.