President describes overseas operations, hostage returns and awards for January raid

The president devoted a portion of his address to recent foreign-policy and military actions, describing a January operation he referred to as "Operation Midnight Hammer" and saying it had disabled what he called Iran's nuclear weapons program. "In a breakthrough operation last June, the United States military obliterated Iran's nuclear weapons program with an attack on Iranian soil known as Operation Midnight Hammer," he said.

He also said that under a negotiated ceasefire most hostages "both living and dead" had been returned and thanked officials he named for their work. The president introduced guests in the gallery, including Alejandro Gonzalez and her uncle Enrique, whom he said had been released from Venezuelan detention.

The president honored service members injured in the operation and announced awards, including the Purple Heart and a planned private White House ceremony to present other medals. The transcript reports his descriptions and planned recognitions but does not include operational details or independent corroboration of purported results.

Next steps: personnel recognitions were announced; the speech did not record legislative or oversight actions. The claims about operations and returns were presented as administration accomplishments without operational substantiation in the transcript.