The US Department of Defense is preparing for military intervention in Nigeria to protect the African country's Christian community, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed.

Hegseth wrote that “either the Nigerian government will protect Christians or we will kill the Islamist terrorists who commit these terrible atrocities.”

President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that he had directed the Pentagon to prepare for a possible military operation in Nigeria, which he called a “disgraced country.” This would allow sanctions to be imposed on the West African country. The president also threatened that if the West African country did not take action to curb the violence against Christians, “the United States will immediately halt all aid and other assistance to Nigeria.” “Christianity is under existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being murdered, and radical Islamists are responsible for this massacre,” Trump wrote. The Nigerian government denies that the violence in the country is targeting the Christian community alone.

The president, however, denied in a statement on Friday that he was preparing to intervene militarily against Venezuela to stop drug trafficking into the country. The US military has been conducting regular naval strikes in international waters for the past two months against suspected drug-smuggling ships, most of which originate from Venezuela. A total of 15 such military operations have been carried out, the most recent on Saturday. The US government also said that it had killed about 65 suspected drug traffickers in the strikes.

Nigeria welcomes US military assistance against Islamist rebels as long as its territorial integrity is respected, Daniel Bwala, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, said on Sunday. (MTI)