US President Donald Trump compared his administration’s surprise military actions against Iran to Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during a meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday.
The remark came amid a tense exchange in which Trump defended his decision not to notify US allies in advance of the operations against Iran.
“I didn’t inform our allies because I wanted it to be a surprise,” Trump said, adding, “Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay, why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, resulting in nearly 3,600 American casualties. Then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the day “a day of infamy,” and the attack prompted the United States to formally enter World War II.
Trump compares Iran strikes to Pearl Harbor in front of Japanese PM
