Hiroshima Mayor Rebukes Trump Over Iran Strikes Comparison

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui has invited President Donald Trump to visit Hiroshima after Trump, at a NATO summit in The Hague, compared recent U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, calling them 'essentially the same thing.' The remarks provoked anger in Japan, leading the Hiroshima city assembly to pass a resolution condemning any justification of atomic bomb use and prompting survivors to protest at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Mayor Matsui criticized Trump for not understanding the catastrophic impact of nuclear weapons, which indiscriminately kill civilians and threaten humanity's survival. He urged Trump to witness the devastation firsthand and hear survivors' stories before making further statements. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed an estimated 214,000 people and remain the only wartime use of nuclear weapons. The controversy underscores the sensitivity of nuclear issues and the importance of historical memory in diplomacy.