Tinubu’s govt ‘closely monitoring’ Trump’s destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities: Official

The Nigerian government had, last week, advised that Israel should have opted for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the bad blood with Iran.

ADEFEMOLA AKINTADE • June 23, 2025

Bola Tinubu, attack on Iranian nuclear site

Days after the Donald Trump administration decimated Iran’s nuclear facilities with bunker-buster bombs, the Nigerian government —which previously rebuked Israel for air-dropping bombs on Iran and killing its top generals— said it was assessing the U.S. aggression on Iranian soil.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration last week knocked Israel for causing an “escalation of hostilities”, advising that the nation should have opted for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the bad blood with Iran.

The Nigerian government, which condemned Israeli aggression on Iran with alacrity, told Peoples Gazette that it was still assessing the obliteration of three nuclear enrichment plants on Iranian soil, specifically in Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

Asked about its position on the Saturday attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the Nigerian government refrained from commending or condemning the U.S. aggression, tiptoeing around the matter to avoid incurring Washington’s wrath, given Nigeria was among a list of 36 additional countries considered for a U.S. ban.

“As soon as we have completed our assessment with a full understanding of the operation, we will share with Nigerians,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja told The Gazette on Monday.

Mr Trump called the bomb strikes “a spectacular military success” and boasted that U.S. troops launched “a full payload of bombs” on Fordow, the primary nuclear enrichment site in Iran.

The president on Thursday threw Iranians off the U.S. scent when he announced it would take him two weeks to decide whether or not the U.S. will join Israel in attacking Iran. Days after that announcement, Mr Trump appeared on a broadcast announcing that military troops destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday.

While Mr Trump’s statement drew criticisms from Russia, Cuba and other Gulf states, nations like the UK and France have hailed the attack, asserting that Iran should never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian authorities have promised the U.S. a devastating retaliation.

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