Israeli forces continued striking targets in Tehran on Tuesday, the fifth day of Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program and the regime committed to developing nuclear weapons.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an international resolution in support of deescalation on Monday, after initially indicating that he might not. But he also made multiple comments that stoked fear in Iran and speculation that the United States could join the conflict.
“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life,” Trump posted on Truth Social as he left the G7 summit in Canada. “Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
Trump subsequently rejected the French president’s suggestion that he had left the meeting early to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, telling reporters that he was working on something “much bigger than that.”
His comments fueled speculation that the United States could join in Israel’s campaign against Iran, as is believed to be needed to effectively destroy an Iranian nuclear facility known as Fordo. But U.S. officials sought to tamp down that idea, saying they committed to only a defensive involvement of U.S. troops and weapons.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, said they had killed the man who replaced the Iranian military leader assassinated on Friday and would continue their campaign until Iran has given up its nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, could be a target. Khameini and his regime have vowed to destroy Israel by any means necessary.
After several days of deadly missile strikes, Israel had a relatively quiet night overnight Monday, with sirens sending Israelis to shelters but relatively few impacts and only light injuries reported in one place, Herzliya, to people who had not sought shelter. But Iran has vowed additional responses and, its missile infrastructure damaged, reportedly is considering other tactics, including interrupting shipping and staging terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.
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