SUNTV Global Channel | January 9, 2026
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that the United States may carry out additional military strikes in Nigeria if attacks on Christians persist, despite Nigerian authorities denying claims of systematic persecution.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published Thursday, while addressing questions about a U.S. military strike in Nigeria on Christmas Day. The strike targeted Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria and, according to Nigerian officials, was a joint operation aimed at terrorists, unrelated to any religious group.
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike … But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike,” Trump said, according to CNBC.
When asked about comments from his own Africa adviser, who noted that Islamic State and Boko Haram militants were killing more Muslims than Christians, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but insisted that Christians were the primary targets.
“I think that Muslims are also being killed in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.
Trump has previously framed the situation in Nigeria as an “existential threat” to Christianity, threatening military intervention over what he claims is the Nigerian government’s failure to protect Christian communities.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with over 230 million people, is roughly evenly split between Christians, predominantly in the south, and Muslims, mainly in the north. While the country faces insurgency, banditry, and kidnappings, the government maintains that extremist violence affects both Christians and Muslims and is driven by terrorism and criminality, not religion.
Nigerian officials have expressed willingness to cooperate with the United States in counterterrorism efforts but have rejected claims that Christians are uniquely targeted.
The Christmas Day strike marks the latest in a series of U.S. military interventions in Nigeria, and Trump’s comments raise concerns about the possibility of further action in response to religiously framed attacks.
— Reporting by SUNTV Global Channel
