PHOTO-US President Donald Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on March 19 in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, the United States [Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]
Trump said he couldn’t alert allies to the strikes because he might have lost the element of surprise that allowed the military to knock out “much more” of Iran’s defenses than anticipated.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump compared the initial strikes on Iran — while seated next to Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office — to the Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy in Pearl Harbor, which triggered America’s entry into World War II.
“We didn’t tell anyone about it because we wanted a surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” Trump said to laughter. “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”
Then-President Franklin Roosevelt referred to the surprise attack Dec. 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy” while asking Congress to declare war.
During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump was asked why he hadn’t notified allies in Asia and Europe about the war before it began Feb. 28.
“One thing you don’t want to signal too much, you know, when you go in,” Trump said. “We went in very hard.”
Because of the surprise, Trump said the military knocked out “much more” than anticipated in the first two days of strikes. Pentagon leaders said the United States has struck 7,000 targets in Iran and sunk or damaged 120 of Tehran’s navy ships.
“If I go and tell everybody about it, there’s no longer a surprise,” Trump said.
The prime minister and the president were set to discuss trade and energy costs, among other issues, as the Iran conflict has led to soaring oil prices worldwide.
Takaichi said in her own remarks that the global economy is set to take a “huge hit” from the war.
USA TODAY/ THE HILL
