The few lines of the president that seem to hint at an action already concluded, that will not be repeated. But then the speech: Either peace or we will strike again
First the attack followed in absolute confidentiality by the situation room, then the beginning of Donald Trump's public night, around 1:50 in Italy, with the post on Truth that revealed the attack on Iran. Then another couple of hours with statements that filtered from the White House and finally the public speech with Vance at his side, about three minutes, at 4 in the morning Italian time, ten at night in Washington. Two hours or a little more, to reiterate at every step, on social media or in the speech, that now is the time for peace, otherwise we will attack again.
A post of a few lines, but full of messages, the one on Truth, signed DJT: We have successfully completed our attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan. All aircraft are now out of Iranian airspace. A full load of bombs has been dropped on the main site, Fordow. All aircraft are returning safely. Congratulations to our great American warriors. No other army in the world could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention. The phrase about peace now being desirable, after the dropping of bombs, is written exactly like that, in capital letters. From the same president who a couple of hours earlier, commenting on a Fox News story, had written: Time will tell... precisely on the possibility of an attack .
At the beginning of the night everything changed. But there is no shortage of criticism, even from the Republican house. This is not constitutional, wrote on X the Republican representative of Kentucky Thomas Massie, regarding the action revealed by Trump. Massie had supported in recent days the need for Congress to decide on the entry of the United States into the conflict. The same concept, of unconstitutionality, was expressed by the Democratic senator Bernie Sanders.
Trump's posts were not limited to the first, historic, announcement of war. The president then posted a couple of US flags and also repeated a post by Open Source Intel: Fordow is gone, a reference to the Iranian nuclear mountain, considered the most important site of the regime's weapons.
Then at four o'clock the speech at the White House: We have carried out a precision strike on three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan. Everyone knows these names, we have heard them for years because Iran is building a destructive activity. The objective of our attack is to end the nuclear threat from the first state sponsor of terrorism. I can tell the world that the attack - Trump claims - was a spectacularly successful military operation. The Iranian nuclear sites have been almost completely destroyed.
From war to the call for peace, to be imposed: Now is the time for the Middle East and for Iran to make peace. For forty years Iran has been saying “death to America, death to Israel”. They have killed our people, they have blown up their legs, their arms, with bombs on the streets, they have put thousands of people in danger. Many people have died because of their generals, General Soleimani in particular. I thank Netanyahu and I want to congratulate him, we worked as a team, as a team has never worked before.
A few minutes, always with the same tone of voice, the same rhythm, from the criticism of Iran to all the thanks, the praise: I want to say thank you to the Israeli army for the great work they have done, but above all to the great American patriots who brought these magnificent machines to the Iranian skies. We need their ability and competence. I want to thank all the brilliant elements involved in this attack. We cannot continue like this, now we need peace. There are still many targets to hit, but if we do not reach peace we will continue. Most of these targets can be destroyed in a few minutes. There is no army in the world that can do what we did tonight.
