President Donald Trump blamed Iran for forcing Israel's airstrike attack on its nuclear program after it failed to reach a nuclear deal with the U.S.

"I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account Friday (June 13) morning. "I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!"

The airstrike was reported to have killed Gen. Bhossein Salami, head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the Iranian military, Gholam Ali Rashid, head of the country's emergency command and six nuclear scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the attack and said it would continue for many days.

“Moments ago, Israel launched operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival,” he said during a televised address via CNN. “This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

Netanyahu said Iran had a program to develop and "could produce a nuclear weapon" had it not been stopped by Israel's attack.

“This is a clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival,” Netanyahu added, noting that the attack "struck at the head of Iran's nuclear weaponization program.

Israeli military spokesperson Effie Defrin told reporters that they were "preparing for a response" from Iran "to fire at us" while addressing reporters, adding that most Iranian drones fired in retaliation were intercepted on Friday. Iran quickly called for a "declaration of war" with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing for "severe punishment" after the attacks.

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