President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out additional military strikes in Nigeria if attacks on Christians persist, raising fresh concerns about Washington’s potential military footprint in West Africa.
Trump issued the warning in an interview with The New York Times, where he was asked whether the Christmas Day missile strikes against Islamic State-linked militants marked the beginning of a broader US military campaign.
The strikes came about a month after Trump publicly threatened to deploy US troops to Nigeria, saying they would go in “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our cherished Christians.” His remarks echoed repeated claims by some US politicians and advocacy groups that Christians are being targeted for genocide in Africa’s most populous country.
Nigeria, however, has pushed back against that narrative. According to Ademola Oshodi, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Foreign Affairs and Protocol, Nigerian authorities retained control over decision-making related to the single operation that led to the Christmas Day strikes.
Speaking in the NYT interview published yesterday, Trump suggested that further action remained on the table. “I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” he said. “But if they continue to kill Christians it will be a many-time strike.”
The Nigerian government has consistently rejected claims that Christians are being deliberately targeted for killing, arguing that extremist violence cuts across religious lines. In October, Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos, stated that militant groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State were responsible for the deaths of more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria.
When asked to respond to his adviser’s assessment, Trump acknowledged the broader scope of the violence but maintained his position. “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria,” he said. “But it’s mostly Christians.”
Security analysts note that Nigeria has for years faced complex insurgencies driven by a mix of ideology, criminality, and local grievances, particularly in the northeast and parts of the Middle Belt. Abuja has repeatedly warned against framing the conflict solely as a religious war, arguing that such narratives risk oversimplifying the crisis and complicating counterterrorism cooperation.