US launches strike targeting ISIS in Nigeria, Trump says

Hadriana Lowenkron, Bloomberg News on Dec 25, 2025

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The U.S. launched a military strike in Nigeria against Islamic State targets, President Donald Trump said, citing what he said was the persecution of the country’s Christian population by the militant group.

In a social media post, Trump said he directed American forces to carry out “a powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS. U.S. Africa Command said in a subsequent statement that the attack came “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and killed “multiple ISIS terrorists.”

Oil was steady, and market reaction was muted in thin holiday trading after the attack. Nigeria is a member of OPEC.

Trump in November threatened possible U.S. military action against Islamist militants in Nigeria if the country’s government didn’t halt the groups’ “killing of Christians.” At the time, Nigerian dollar bonds fell across the maturity curve, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday threatened there would be “more to come” if the group does not stop going after “innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere).”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details on the strikes, including the number of those impacted or the weaponry used.

Trump has already designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over so-called fears about the safety of Christians in the country. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a Trump ally, has also pushed Congress to designate Nigeria a violator of religious freedom.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rejected Trump’s characterization of the country as religiously intolerant. Representatives for the Nigerian government and the country’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond during the Christmas holiday.

Tinubu has been under pressure from a rising Islamist presence in northeastern Nigeria, and the region has seen attacks on dozens of fortified army bases. Suspected Boko Haram insurgents detonated an explosive device late Wednesday at a mosque in Maiduguri, killing at least five people, according to police. Nigeria’s roughly 230 million people are split between Christians and Muslims, and attacks have targeted both communities.

Trump has sought to flex military might across the globe, despite his campaign-trail promises to rein in overseas interventions.

Last week, the U.S. launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria in response to a deadly attack on American forces there that the president blamed on the Islamic State group.

The U.S. has also built up its military presence in the Caribbean, with Trump ordering a “complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela and carrying out strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats as he mounts a pressure campaign against the nation’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. Critics say the boat attacks are unlawful.