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President Donald Trump made a quip about Pearl Harbor Thursday when asked if Japan and other American allies were given advance notice about attacking Iran, saying the U.S. “wanted surprise.”
Trump made the comment while sitting across from Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi during a bilateral meeting at the White House.
“Japan and the U.S. are very good friends, but one question, why didn’t you tell U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran? So we are very confused about, we Japanese citizens,” a reporter asked Trump.
“Well, one thing, you don’t want to signal too much,” the president responded. “You know, when we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay? Right?”
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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office of the White House, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
“You know, he’s asking me, ‘Do you believe in surprise?’ I think much more so than us. And we had to surprise them. And we did,” Trump continued. “And because of that surprise, we knocked out the first two days, we probably knocked out 50% of what we — and much more than we anticipated doing. So, if I go and tell everybody about it, there’s no longer a surprise, right?”
PENTAGON SEEKS AT LEAST $200 BILLION FROM CONGRESS FOR IRAN WAR
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, seated with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in the Oval Office of the White House, on Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Earlier in the meeting, Trump told reporters, “We’re doing this excursion. And when it’s completed, we’re going to have a much safer world. And the Prime Minister agrees with me on this.“
“Iran is a serious threat to the world, to the Middle East and to the world. And everybody agrees with me,” Trump said. “I think virtually every country agrees with me on that. So I wanted to put out that fire.”
Two F/A-18 Super Hornets launch from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location, on March 3, 2026. (U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)
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Operation Epic Fury was launched by the U.S. on Feb. 28, and as of Thursday, is on day 20.
