'It ended the war': Trump likens Iran strikes to Hiroshima bombing

Middle East Eye

8 hours ago

US President Donald Trump has compared his attacks on Iran's nuclear programme to the bombing of Hiroshima, as Nato leaders praised him as a "man of peace" at the alliance's summit.
The summit's main session on Wednesday was overshadowed by the aftermath of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and the ongoing war on Gaza.
Trump dismissed reports that downplayed the effectiveness of his strikes on Iran, describing the operation as a "tremendous success".
"Two Iranians went down to see it and they said this place is gone," he said, presumably referring to one of Iran's nuclear research sites.
He told the summit "that hit ended the war".
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"I don't wanna use an example of Hiroshima or Nagasaki but that was essentially the same thing," Trump said.
"That ended that war. If we didn't take that out they would be fighting right now."
The 1945 US atomic bombings on the two Japanese cities, which killed up to 260,000 mostly civilians, are often credited by Americans as having ended the Second World War.
An initial assessment of the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities by the US Defence Intelligence Agency says that the main components of the programme remain intact and were likely only set back by months, CNN reported on Tuesday.
US intelligence report scales back claims on damage to Iranian nuclear facilities: Report Read More »
Despite this, Trump was lauded at The Hague on Wednesday for brokering a ceasefire that ended 12 days of unprecedented conflict between Iran and Israel.
"You are a man of strength but you are also a man of peace in getting the ceasefire done between Israel and Iran," said Nato chief Mark Rutte.
Asked about the process of the ceasefire, Trump said it was "very good".
"Israel came back yesterday, I was so proud of them. Because they came back," he said, referring to an Israeli attack on Iran that took place after the ceasefire officially came into force.
"They went out because they thought there was a violation. Technically they were right but it just wouldn't have worked out very well."
Trump also hinted that Iran would stop enriching uranium now, although the Islamic Republic vowed to continue its nuclear programme.
"The last thing they wanna do is enrich anything right now. They wanna recover," he said.
"We won't let that happen... militarily we won't."
'Low confidence' intelligence
Neither Gaza nor Iran were on the official agenda of the Nato summit, which is held at irregular dates in The Hague.
Before the summit, Nato leaders broadly threw their support behind Trump's attacks on Iran, but some - like French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store - later suggested that the strikes might not have been legal.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth, who was also at the summit, dismissed as "low confidence" the leaked intelligence report suggesting Iran's nuclear capabilities had only been set back by months.
He said it was far more likely that the attacks had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear facilities.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, flanked by US President Donald Trump and other national leaders, during a Nato summit in The Hague, on 25 June (Toby Melville/Reuters)
"We're doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now. This information was for internal purposes," he said.
"CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad when there was an overwhelming success."
Israel's ongoing war on Gaza was also a topic of discussion at the conference, with Trump suggesting a ceasefire deal could also be on the cards.
US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told him an agreement was "very close", the president said.
"I think great progress is being made on Gaza because of this attack that we made," Trump added.