Hiroshima Mayor Urges Trump To Visit Bomb Site Days After US President Compares Iran Strikes To 1945 Bombings

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Hiroshima's mayor has called on Donald Trump to visit the city and learn firsthand about the devastation caused by nuclear weapons after the US President likened the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan to recent US strikes on Iran.

“It seems to me that he does not fully understand the reality of the atomic bombings, which, if used, take the lives of many innocent citizens, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, and threaten the survival of the human race,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters on Wednesday (July 2).

Invitation to witness the destruction

“I wish that President Trump would visit the bombed area to see the reality of the atomic bombing and feel the spirit of Hiroshima, and then make statements,” Matsui said.

Trump's controversial comparison

On June 22, after the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in response to Israeli strikes on Iran, Trump defended the operation by comparing it to the atomic bombings that ended World War II.

“I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing,” Trump said last Wednesday at a NATO summit in The Hague.

"When you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, that ended a war, too," Trump said, referring to a pair of US nuclear strikes on Japan in 1945 that essentially ended World War II. "This ended a war in a different way."

“That ended that war and this ended this war,” he added.

Also Read | Elon Musk's X to introduce AI-powered Community Notes: Here's why Hiroshima Assembly condemns remarks

Last week, the Hiroshima city assembly passed a formal motion condemning statements that justify the use of atomic bombs , emphasising the lasting trauma inflicted on civilians.

A small demonstration also took place in Hiroshima to protest the comparison.

Historical context

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people, followed by a second bomb on Nagasaki three days later that killed about 74,000. Japan surrendered soon afterwards, ending World War II.

These remain the only instances of nuclear weapons being used in warfare.
(With AFP inputs)

Also Read | Trump vows to 'save New York City' from 'Communist lunatic' Zohran Mamdani

MENAFN02072025007365015876ID1109753862