United States President Donald Trump has claimed that recently authorised American military strikes in Nigeria helped halt large-scale attacks against Christian communities, saying the operations dealt a significant blow to terrorist groups operating in the country.
Trump made the remarks during an event in Washington over the weekend while highlighting his administration’s security and counter-terrorism efforts across different parts of the world.
According to the U.S. president, the military intervention targeted terrorist elements responsible for deadly attacks on civilian populations, particularly Christians living in areas plagued by insurgency and violent extremism.
“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations,” Trump said while addressing the gathering.
Describing the violence in stark terms, he alleged that thousands of Christians, including women, children and the elderly, had been brutally killed before the military action was launched.
“They have a great Christian population. They were being butchered… butchered. Thousands and thousands of people were being killed, children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hacked to death,” he said.
Trump maintained that the strikes had weakened the operational capacity of the terrorist groups and discouraged further attacks.
“They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater and that they don’t want to really get involved anymore,” he said.
The U.S. president further claimed that the military operation eliminated key leaders of the terrorist network.
“You know, we hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader,” he stated.
Drawing a comparison with American military operations against Iran, Trump said the campaign in Nigeria reflected his administration’s broader security strategy of confronting threats before they escalate.
“It sounds a little bit like Iran, actually. It’s all about a different cause that we have to do because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let it happen,” he said.
Trump also declared that protecting Christians across the world remained one of his administration’s priorities, insisting that the United States would continue to act against terrorist organisations wherever they operate.
“So, I’m saving Christians throughout the world, even though we are not in those various countries where you read about this,” he said.
“But they’d like to make our country just like those countries. That’s where they started. They started right where we are right now.”
He stressed that the U.S. military would continue to pursue extremist groups using advanced intelligence and military capabilities.
“But I’m saving them by hitting these terrorists very violently and very hard.
”We’re hitting them very hard with the greatest weapons on earth, taking them out,” Trump said.
“We know where they are. We hunt them down, and we take them out. They go into a village, and they just kill everybody — it’s like crazy.”
The U.S. president also warned against what he described as growing threats to religious freedom, claiming that extremist ideologies could undermine the rights of religious communities if left unchecked.
“They will close your churches in this country. They go communist, and they’re trying to. They will kill your people, and that’s what they’re about. They want to end religion,” he added.
Trump’s comments come against the backdrop of increased military cooperation between Nigeria and the United States in the fight against terrorism.
In December 2025, the United States carried out a series of air strikes targeting ISIS fighters in Sokoto State.
In May this year, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters announced that more than 20 ISIS/ISWAP fighters were killed during joint U.S.-Nigeria air operations in Metele, Borno State.
Similarly, in June, the Nigerian military, working alongside the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM), confirmed that 21 ISWAP fighters were killed during an air strike in Arege, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.
The latest remarks by the U.S. president are expected to generate reactions from Nigerian authorities and security analysts, particularly regarding the scope of U.S. military involvement in the country’s counter-terrorism operations and the impact of the joint campaign against insurgent groups.
