Speaker 1: The US and Israel have launched a major combat operation
Speaker 1: in Iran, where now learning is called Operation Epic Fury,
Speaker 1: targeting a number of Islamic Republic locations overnight in and
Speaker 1: around Tehran. President Trump announcing the strikes on truth social.
Speaker 2: For forty seven years, the Iranian regime has chanted death
Speaker 2: to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and
Speaker 2: mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops, and the
Speaker 2: innocent people in many many countries.
Speaker 1: Iran has hit back with air strikes on multiple targets
Speaker 1: in Israel, as well as missile attacks on a US
Speaker 1: base in Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates says its successfully
Speaker 1: intercepted Iranian missiles. All of this following weeks of failed
Speaker 1: talks with Iran for a fresh agreement on its nuclear program.
Speaker 2: It has always been the policy of the United States,
Speaker 2: in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never
Speaker 2: have a nuclear weapon. I'll say it again, they can
Speaker 2: never have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 1: President Trump accused the Iranian regime of trying to rebuild
Speaker 1: its nuclear arsenal after the attacks by the US and
Speaker 1: Israel last June. This morning's message is also the first
Speaker 1: time the President's offered a more than cursory rationale for
Speaker 1: his decision to amass US forces in the region and
Speaker 1: acknowledge there could be US casualties. Trump also urged the
Speaker 1: Iranian people to rise up against its government.
Speaker 2: To the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight
Speaker 2: that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered,
Speaker 2: don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will
Speaker 2: be dropping everywhere. When we are finished take over your government,
Speaker 2: it will be yours to take. This will be probably
Speaker 2: your only chance for generations.
Speaker 1: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nettan Yahoo also waded in through
Speaker 1: an interpreter this morning and says they're carrying out the
Speaker 1: joint operation to remove what he calls the existential threat
Speaker 1: posed by Iran's regime.
Speaker 3: Together with the United States, we will strike hard at
Speaker 3: the terror regime and create conditions that will allow the
Speaker 3: brave Iranian people to rid themselves of this murderous regime.
Speaker 1: We're retired Colonel Steve Ganyard is former Deputy Assistant Secretary
Speaker 1: of State.
Speaker 4: We're getting preliminary reports of what appears to be decapitation
Speaker 4: strikes within Tron going after the leadership in Tehran, going
Speaker 4: after not only the theocracy but the military leadership in Tehran.
Speaker 1: Further nuclear negotiations involving Trump's son in law Gerared Kushner
Speaker 1: and US Envoy Steve Wikoff were expected next week in Vienna,
Speaker 1: but it's unclear now whether those talks will go on
Speaker 1: as planned, since US officials have said this operation against
Speaker 1: Iran could last days. The European Union called for diplomacy
Speaker 1: this morning and says it's coordinating closely now with Arab
Speaker 1: partners to explore diplomatic paths. Michael Clark is a security
Speaker 1: analyst and visiting professor at King's College in London. He
Speaker 1: says Trump's statement was clear.
Speaker 3: He's going for broke, and he didn't say the word
Speaker 3: regime change, but that's what he means. He's absolutely decided
Speaker 3: that the United States with Israel, is going to take
Speaker 3: down the Mullahs of Tehran. Today. Donald Trump has gone
Speaker 3: to war.
Speaker 1: Meantime, OPEC plus members are set to meet tomorrow to
Speaker 1: discuss the option of a larger oil supply increase. They'd
Speaker 1: agreed to keep supplies steady through March, but these attacks
Speaker 1: on Iran could now escalate production increases. Members had added
Speaker 1: monthly increases of one hundred and thirty seven thousand barrels
Speaker 1: a day in the fourth quarter. We'd like to play
Speaker 1: the President's entire message now. It's eight minutes and was
Speaker 1: posted this morning on truth Social.
Speaker 2: A short time ago, the United States military began major
Speaker 2: combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the
Speaker 2: American people by eliminating eminent threats from the Iranian regime,
Speaker 2: a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. It's menacing
Speaker 2: activities directly in danger the United States, our troops, our
Speaker 2: bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world. For forty
Speaker 2: seven years, the Iranian regime has chanted death to America
Speaker 2: and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder,
Speaker 2: targeting the United States, our troops, and the innocent people
Speaker 2: in many many countries. Among the regime's very first acts
Speaker 2: was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy
Speaker 2: in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for four hundred
Speaker 2: and forty four days. In nineteen eighty three, Irans proxies
Speaker 2: carried out the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut that killed
Speaker 2: two hundred and forty one American military personnel in two thousand.
Speaker 2: They knew and were probably involved with the attack on
Speaker 2: the USS coal many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed
Speaker 2: hundreds of American service members in Iraq. Regime's proxies have
Speaker 2: continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in
Speaker 2: the Middle East in recent years, as well as US
Speaker 2: naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lands. It's been
Speaker 2: mass terra and We're not going to put up with
Speaker 2: it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq,
Speaker 2: the regime has armed, trained, and funded terrorist militias that
Speaker 2: have soaked the earth with blood and guts. And it
Speaker 2: was Iran's proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October seventh
Speaker 2: attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than one thousand innocent people,
Speaker 2: including forty six Americans, while taking twelve of our citizens hostage.
Speaker 2: It was brutal, something like the world has never seen before.
Speaker 2: Iran is the world's number one state sponsor of terra
Speaker 2: and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own
Speaker 2: citizens on the street as they protested. It has always
Speaker 2: been the policy of the United States, in particular my
Speaker 2: administration that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 2: I'll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 2: That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we
Speaker 2: obliterated the regime's nuclear program at Fordeaux Natanse and Isfahan.
Speaker 2: After that attack, we warned them never to resume their
Speaker 2: malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to
Speaker 2: make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it,
Speaker 2: They didn't want to do it again. They wanted to
Speaker 2: do it. They didn't want to do it. They didn't
Speaker 2: know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.
Speaker 2: But Iran refused, just as it has for decades. In decades,
Speaker 2: they've rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and
Speaker 2: we can't take it anymore. Instead, they attempted to rebuild
Speaker 2: their nuclear program and to continue developing long rage missiles
Speaker 2: that can now threaten our very good friends and allies
Speaker 2: in Europe. Are troops stationed overseas and could soon reach
Speaker 2: the American homeland. Just imagine how emboldened this regime would
Speaker 2: be if they ever had and actually were armed with
Speaker 2: nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message for
Speaker 2: these reasons. The United States military has undertaken a massive
Speaker 2: and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked radical dictatorship
Speaker 2: from threatening America and our core national security interests. We
Speaker 2: are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile
Speaker 2: industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated.
Speaker 2: We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going
Speaker 2: to ensure that the region's terrorist proxies can no longer
Speaker 2: destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces,
Speaker 2: and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs as
Speaker 2: they are sometimes called to so gravely wound and kill
Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans. And we
Speaker 2: will ensure that Randa is not obtained a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 2: It's a very simple message. They will never have a
Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one
Speaker 2: should challenge the strength and might of the United States
Speaker 2: Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my
Speaker 2: first administration, and there is no military on Earth even
Speaker 2: close to its power, strength, or sophistication. My administration has
Speaker 2: taken every possible step to minimize the risks to US
Speaker 2: personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not
Speaker 2: make this statement lightly. The Iranian regime seeks to kill
Speaker 2: the lives of courageous American heroes. May be lost, and
Speaker 2: we may have casualties that often happens in war. But
Speaker 2: we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for
Speaker 2: the future, and it is a noble mission. We pray
Speaker 2: for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives
Speaker 2: to ensure that Americans and our children will never be
Speaker 2: threatened by a nuclear armed Iran. We ask God to
Speaker 2: protect all of our heroes in harm's way, and we
Speaker 2: trust that with his help, the men and women of
Speaker 2: the armed forces will prevail. We have the greatest in
Speaker 2: the world, and they will prevail. To the members of
Speaker 2: the Islami Revolutionary Guard, the Armed Forces, and all of
Speaker 2: the police, I say tonight that you must lay down
Speaker 2: your weapons and have complete immunity, or in the alternative,
Speaker 2: face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will
Speaker 2: be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face
Speaker 2: certain death. Finally, to the great proud people of Iran,
Speaker 2: I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is
Speaker 2: at hand. Stay sheltered, don't leave your home. It's very
Speaker 2: dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished.
Speaker 2: Take over your government. It will be yours to take.
Speaker 2: This will be probably your only chance for generations. For
Speaker 2: many years you have asked for America's help, but you
Speaker 2: never got it. No president was willing to do what
Speaker 2: I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a
Speaker 2: president who is giving you what you want. So let's
Speaker 2: see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming
Speaker 2: strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize
Speaker 2: control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and
Speaker 2: glorious future that is close within your reach. This is
Speaker 2: the moment for action. Do not let it pass. May
Speaker 2: God bless the brave men and women of America's Armed forces.
Speaker 2: May God bless the United States of America. May God
Speaker 2: bless you all. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That was President Trump's entire eight minute message on the
Speaker 1: US and Israel's attacks on Iran overnight. The strikes follow
Speaker 1: weeks of failed talks to reach an agreement on Iran's
Speaker 1: nuclear program, which Tehran has insisted it's not pursuing. And
Speaker 1: that's news when you want it with Bloomberg News. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm Monica Rix, and this is Bloomberg