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In a blistering, war-drum address posted on his Truth Social platform, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States has commenced major combat operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in one of the world’s most volatile rivalries.

Trump framed the offensive as an unavoidable act of national defense, accusing Tehran of decades of terror, proxy warfare, and relentless hostility toward American interests and allies. He described Iran as a “wicked, radical dictatorship” and the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, citing attacks on U.S. troops, bases, and international shipping lanes across the Middle East.

Recounting historical flashpoints, from the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage crisis to the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, the president argued that patience had run out. He blamed Iran’s regional proxies for a trail of bloodshed stretching from Lebanon to Yemen, and pointed to the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamaas the latest proof, alleging Tehran’s backing and responsibility.

At the core of Trump’s declaration was Iran’s nuclear ambition. He claimed that previous U.S. strikes under “Operation Midnight Hammer” had “obliterated” nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, but accused Iran of rebuilding in defiance of repeated warnings and failed negotiations. “They will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said, vowing to destroy Iran’s missile industry, annihilate its navy, and dismantle the terror networks it supports.

In one of the most incendiary moments of the address, Trump issued a stark ultimatum to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and security forces: lay down their arms and receive immunity, or face “certain death.” Turning to the Iranian public, he urged citizens to stay indoors as bombing continues, then called on them to seize control of their government once U.S. operations conclude, casting the war as a gateway to regime change and “the hour of your freedom.”

While acknowledging the risk of American casualties, Trump framed the campaign as a “noble mission” to secure the future and prevent a nuclear-armed Iran from threatening the U.S. homeland and its allies in Europe and the Middle East. He ended with a prayer for U.S. service members and a declaration of unmatched American military supremacy.

The speech, unapologetic, confrontational, and sweeping in scope, signals a decisive turn from brinkmanship to open warfare, with consequences that could redraw the geopolitical map of the Middle East and reverberate far beyond it.

Full text of US President Donald Trump declaring war on Iran

US President Donald Trump declared war on Iran in a speech posted on his Truth Social account. Here is the full text:

A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted death to America and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.

Among the regime’s very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days. In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.

In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Coal. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq. The regime’s proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as US naval and commercial vessels in international shipping lanes.

It’s been mass terror. And we’re not going to put up with it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts.

And it was Iran’s proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October 7 attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal. Something like the world has never seen before.

Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested. It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.

That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons. And we sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it again. They wanted to do it, they didn’t want to do it, they didn’t know what was happening. They just wanted to practise evil.

But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions. And we can’t take it any more. Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear programme and to continue developing long-range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland.

Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message.

For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests. We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally, again, obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy. We are going to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces and no longer use their IEDs, or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called, to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.

And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration.

And there is no military on Earth even close to its power. Strength or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimise the risk to US personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement likely, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.

We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way. And we trust that with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail.

We have the greatest in the world. And they will prevail.

To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity. Or, in the alternative, face certain death. So lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. 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. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want. So let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.

This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.

May God bless the brave men and women of America’s armed forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all.

Thank you.