Trump says Iran's Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is lifeless after US-Israeli strikes

[ad_1] White Home officers element rationale for strikes revealed at 20:28 GMT 20:28 GMT

Bernd Debusmann Jr Touring with the President

<img alt="US President Donald Trump (L) in a white cap and suit leans over a wooden table in a room at his Mar-a-Lago estate as he speaks to chief of staff Susie Wiles (R). Behind them, is Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing in a dark suit" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/240/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2026/2/28/c16a164b-0857-4a7b-9338-6c7dbfc54105.jpg.webp 240w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/320/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2026/2/28/c16a164b-0857-4a7b-9338-6c7dbfc54105.jpg.webp 320w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/480/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2026/2/28/c16a164b-0857-4a7b-9338-6c7dbfc54105.jpg.webp 480w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/624/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2026/2/28/c16a164b-0857-4a7b-9338-6c7dbfc54105.jpg.webp 624w, https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/800/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2026/2/28/c16a164b-0857-4a7b-9338-6c7dbfc54105.jpg.webp 800w" width="4096" height="2731" class="ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950"/> Picture supply, White Home I am nonetheless in Palm Seaside, the place we now have but to see any indication that the press will probably be known as to see President Trump in the present day.

I did, nevertheless, simply get off a brief briefing name during which senior administration officers laid out their case for the strikes that came about in the present day.

In line with these officers, the risk was each Iran's want to accumulate nuclear weapons and - within the shorter time period - their standard weapons functionality, which one of many officers highlighted has been seen in the present day throughout the area.

The US had indications that the Iranians supposed to make use of these missiles, doubtlessly preemptively, towards US troops within the area.

This, they added, was not one thing President Trump would permit to occur.

"We can't proceed to stay in a world the place these individuals not solely possess missiles, however the capacity to make 100 of them a month," one official stated.

The US additionally believed that Iran was negotiating from a degree of weak point after current inner instability and that, in essence, they had been trying to purchase time.

Moreover, US intelligence got here to consider that Iran was making an attempt to masks its stockpiling of fissile supplies and had re-built manufacturing capability that was destroyed by Operation Midnight Hammer, the US strikes towards Iranian nuclear services final yr.

It's unclear when Trump will converse instantly, however the officers stated the president and different administration officers would converse extra within the coming days.