“When we are finished, take over your government,” Trump said.
“It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.”
The U.S. president added: “Now is the time to seize control of your destiny.”
Trump told the Iranian people in a video on Truth Social: ‘The hour of your freedom is at hand.”
He also stressed that Iran funded terrorist proxies that have “soaked the Earth with blood and guts.”
“It’s been mass terror and we’re not going to put up with it any longer,” he said.
He called on Iranian officials to “lay down your arms” or “you will face certain death,” and encouraged the Iranian people to “take over your government — it will be yours to take.”
Ahead of the strikes, President Donald Trump built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades.
The arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers were later dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East and are now in the Mediterranean Sea.
The carriers and other ships have added more than 10,000 additional U.S. troops to the region. The military also has a variety of other troops in the region, notably at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which hosts thousands of service members.
Hundreds of fighter jets and other support aircraft necessary for launching a major attack on Iran have also been sent to the region.
