THE HAGUE – U.S. President Donald Trump made headlines on Wednesday by comparing the recent American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, claiming the action ended the war between Israel and Iran.
Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague, Trump addressed concerns that intelligence reports suggested the impact of the strikes was limited. However, he rejected the notion of uncertainty, stating, “The intelligence says ‘we don’t know,’ but I think we can take the ‘we don’t know’ as ‘it was very severe.’ It was obliteration.”
Despite a recent Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report suggesting Iran’s nuclear program was only delayed by a few months, Trump asserted that the strikes had effectively crippled it. “It’s set back basically decades,” he said, adding, “I don’t think they’ll ever do it again.”
Trump’s comparison to Hiroshima drew attention as he stated, “I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the war.”
Seated beside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Trump was backed by both officials. Hegseth dismissed the DIA report as a “low-confidence, preliminary” document, while Rubio accused political opponents of misrepresenting its findings. Both criticized media coverage, alleging a biased narrative.
Meanwhile, Trump’s remarks came as NATO leaders prepared to announce plans to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP. While some member states remain hesitant, the Trump administration is hailing the commitment as a major foreign policy win.