Trump warns Iran: Israeli strikes will ‘only get worse’ without nuclear deal

US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Iran to strike a nuclear deal with the United States, warning that Israel’s recent attacks on Iranian military and nuclear facilities “will only get worse” if Tehran does not act.

In his first public comments since Israel’s Friday strikes, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, “There is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end.”

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal,” Trump wrote. “They just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know…Israel has a lot of [U.S.-made equipment], with much more to come — and they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on Friday, targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile, and military infrastructure.

The strikes killed Iranian Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami, and Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s missile program, Iranian officials confirmed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the operation “a very successful opening strike,” adding that Israel had targeted Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, leading nuclear scientists, and ballistic missile infrastructure.

He described Iran’s nuclear and missile programs as an “existential threat.”

Israeli security officials said that Israel’s Mossad spy agency smuggled weapons into Iran to support the strikes, reported The Associated Press.

The officials said Israel established a base inside Iran for launching explosive drones, which targeted missile launchers near Tehran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel will face a "severe punishment" over its attack on the country.

Israel “opened its wicked and blood-stained hand to a crime in our beloved country, revealing its malicious nature more than ever by striking residential centers,” Khamenei said.