The President of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this morning a 'massive' military operation with the objective of 'annihilating' and 'crushing' the regime of the Iranian ayatollahs, at the same time as he called on the Iranian people to rise up to take control of the country. 'The United States is carrying out a massive and ongoing operation to prevent the evil, radical dictatorship from threatening the United States and the core of our national security interest. It is very dangerous outside. It will be totally crushed. This will probably be your only opportunity in generations.' The president is currently at Mar-a-Lago (Florida), after spending Friday afternoon in Texas to hold a rally for refinery and processing plant workers. Before traveling to Texas, Trump said he was not happy with how Tehran is negotiating its nuclear program, but admitted he had not yet made a 'final decision' on whether to attack Iran, despite satellite images showing military movements that suggested an imminent attack. After the start of the bombing campaign and the first images of attacks in Tehran, Trump said: 'our objective is to defend Americans by eliminating the imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a wild and terrible group, whose threatening activities endanger the United States, our troops, and our bases abroad, and our allies around the world.' Trump also addressed the people of Iran in these first minutes of a war with an uncertain outcome: 'your hour of freedom is near your hands. Do not leave your homes.'
