Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki condemned Trump’s comments, saying the use of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable” no matter the circumstances – a lesson that should be self-evident from the devastating toll of the US bombing of his city on August 9, 1945.
The initial explosion from the “Fat Man” plutonium bomb killed as many as 80,000 people in Nagasaki, while many tens of thousands more died before the end of 1945 from radiation poisoning.
Trump’s comments, delivered during a joint press conference with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte in The Hague on Wednesday, have drawn confusion and criticism for their ambiguity.
“The damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities is extremely serious. That attack ended the war. I don’t want to use Hiroshima as an example. I don’t want to use Nagasaki as an example. But essentially it’s the same. It ended the war,” Trump said.
