“President Donald Trump will attend a National Security Council meeting on Friday morning, the White House said late on Thursday after Israeli strikes on Iran that have put the Middle East on edge,” Reuters reports.

“President Trump said he encouraged Iran to make a nuclear deal and had warned the country’s leadership there could be lethal consequences for failing to negotiate,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Trump: “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!”

He added: “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.”

Tom Nichols: “At the end of the classic 1972 film The Godfather, the new don of the family, Michael Corleone, attends a baptism while his men wipe out the heads of the other New York mafia families—all of them Michael’s enemies, and all intending one day to do him harm. Rather than wait for their eventual attacks, Michael dispatched them himself. ‘Today, I settled all family business,’ Michael says to his traitorous brother-in-law, before having him killed.”

“Tonight, the Israelis launched a broad, sweeping attack on Iran that seems like an attempt to settle, so to speak, all family business. The Israeli government has characterized this offensive as a ‘preemptive’ strike on Iran: ‘We are now in a strategic window of opportunity and close to a point of no return, and we had no choice but to take action,’ an Israeli military official told reporters. Israeli spokespeople suggest that these attacks, named Operation Rising Lion, could go on for weeks.”

“But calling this a ‘preemptive’ strike is questionable. The Israelis, from what we know so far, are engaged in a preventive war: They are removing the source of a threat by surprise, on their own timetable and on terms they find favorable. They may be justified in doing so, but such actions carry great moral and practical risks.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) urged Israel to “keep wiping out” Iranian scientists and military officials.

Said Fetterman: “Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack. Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel. We must provide whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry—to fully back Israel in striking Iran.”

“Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, posted and then quickly deleted a statement on Wednesday evening attacking another high-level U.S. diplomat and criticizing the NATO military alliance as ‘a solution in search of a problem,’” the New York Times reports.

Iran has launched more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory, CNN reports.

Said IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin: “This is a different event to what we’ve experienced thus far, and we’re expecting difficult hours.”

“Iran has the right to retaliate against Israel, its foreign ministry said Friday, accusing Washington of aiding the overnight attack, despite U.S. claims otherwise,” CNN reports.

From a statement: “Such acts of aggression by the Zionist regime against Iran could not have occurred without coordination and authorization from the United States. Accordingly, the U.S. government, as the regime’s primary backer, is also responsible for the dangerous consequences of this reckless escalation.”