The United States President, Donald Trump, acknowledged that Muslims are also being killed in Nigeria, while warning that he could order more airstrikes on Nigeria if the killings in the country continue.

Reacting, Pope Leo XIV condemned attacks on sovereign nations by the United States, Russia and others.

On Christmas Day, the U.S.hit two camps run by a jihadist group called Lakurawa in the largely Muslim state of Sokoto, in north-western Nigeria near the border with Niger.

The strikes occurred about a month after Trump threatened to send troops into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our cherished Christians, as some US politicians repeatedly claimed that there was a genocide against Christians in the West African nation.

It is still unclear if there were any casualties, as neither the US nor Nigerian government has provided figures, and there has been no update on the outcome of the attack.

Trump, in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, dropped hints of another strike.

“I’d love to make it a one-time strike. But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike,” he said.

Though Nigeria’s government has continued to deny the accusations that it is failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks, it has, however, agreed to cooperate with the US and other friendly countries in tackling the insecurity in the country.

Last October, Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, said Boko Haram and ISIS were killing more Muslims than Christians.

Asked about his adviser’s statement, Trump said: “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians.”

Cancels ‘second wave’ of attacks on Venezuela

Trump said early Friday that he had cancelled a “previously expected” second wave of attacks on Venezuela due to the country’s cooperation with the United States.

It comes nearly a week after he ordered a military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently in US custody along with his wife, Cilia Flores.

Shortly after that military operation, Trump said in a news conference, “We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. … We actually assumed that a second wave would be necessary, but now it’s probably not.”

In Friday’s Truth Social post, Trump said the US and Venezuela are “working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure.”

“Because of this cooperation, I have cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks, which looks like it will not be needed; however, all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes,” he added.

Trump went on to say that Venezuela was “releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of ‘Seeking Peace,’” adding, “This is a very important and smart gesture.”

Venezuela began releasing the high-profile prisoners on Thursday, including opposition politicians in an effort to “seek peace,” the acting government said.

Following the military operation last week, US officials had demanded, among other things, that Venezuela’s interim government release political prisoners, according to a source familiar with the US administration’s briefing with key lawmakers this week.

Trump also has not ruled out the possibility of longer-term military involvement, and said Thursday that his administration will soon begin actions to target cartels on land, following months of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

Trump has also said he would say hello to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado when she travels to Washington, DC, next week. He added in an interview with Fox News that it would be “a great honour” to share Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize after she suggested doing so.

US ‘ll ‘hit Iran hard’ if protesters are killed, says Trump

The United States President, Donald Trump, has threatened to attack Iran.

There have been nationwide protests demanding regime change, with many having lost their lives in the protests.

In a swift reaction, Trump said Ayatollah is “looking to go someplace” to escape, adding that Iran is on the “verge of collapse.”

He warned that the US would ‘hit the country hard,’ if protesters were killed, saying he had “put Iran on notice.”

At least 40 protesters and several police officers have been killed in the clashes, according to rights groups and local media, with 2,200 arrests so far.

Iranians have demonstrated in more than 100 cities and towns across the country, according to human rights groups.

“There’s so many people protesting,” he said.

“Nobody’s ever seen anything like what’s happening right now, but I have put Iran on notice that if they start shooting at them, these people are totally unarmed people, and they love their country.

“They want something to happen. Look at their country. They’ve gone back 150 years. But I’ve warned them that if they do anything bad to these people, we’re going to hit them very hard. I’ve said it very loud and very clear, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Pope raps US, Russia, others

However, Pope Leo XIV on Friday denounced how nations were using force to assert their dominion worldwide, “completely undermining” peace and the post-World War II international legal order.

“War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” Leo told ambassadors from around the world who represent their countries´ interests at the Holy See.

The Pope didn´t name individual countries that have resorted to force in his lengthy speech, the bulk of which he delivered in English in a break from the Vatican´s traditional diplomatic protocol of Italian and French. But his speech came amid the backdrop of the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela to remove Nicolás Maduro from power, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and other conflicts.

The occasion was the Pope’s annual audience with the Vatican diplomatic corps, which traditionally amounts to his yearly foreign policy address.

In his first such encounter, history´s first U.S.-born pope delivered much more than the traditional roundup of global hotspots. In a speech that touched on threats to religious freedom and the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion and surrogacy, Leo lamented how the United Nations and multilateralism as a whole were increasingly under threat.

“A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies,” he said. “The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.”

“Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one´s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence,” he said.

Leo did refer explicitly to tensions in Venezuela, calling for a peaceful political solution that keeps in mind the “common good of the peoples and not the defense of partisan interests.” (The Nation)

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