President Donald Trump said the United States could carry out additional military strikes in Nigeria if killings of Christians persist.
Trump made the comments in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday while responding to questions about a Christmas Day U.S. military strike in Nigeria.
The strike, according to U.S. officials, targeted Islamic State-linked militants operating in the country’s northwest and was conducted at the request of the Nigerian government.
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
The Nigerian government has consistently rejected the suggestion that Christians are being systematically persecuted. Authorities said the December operation was a joint effort focused on counterterrorism and had “nothing to do with a particular religion,” emphasizing that militant violence in the country affects both Christian and Muslim communities.
Asked about previous comments by his Africa adviser that extremist groups in Nigeria have killed more Muslims than Christians, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but maintained that Christians were disproportionately targeted. “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria,” he said. “But it’s mostly Christians.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 230 million people, is broadly divided between a predominantly Christian south and a largely Muslim north.
The country has struggled for more than a decade with security threats including insurgency, banditry, mass kidnappings, and communal violence. Islamist groups such as Islamic State affiliates and Boko Haram have carried out attacks that Nigerian officials say have claimed victims across religious lines.
Trump has repeatedly warned that Christianity faces what he described as an “existential threat” in Nigeria, language that has drawn pushback from Abuja.
Nigerian officials argue that framing the crisis primarily as religious persecution risks oversimplifying a complex security landscape driven by terrorism, criminal networks, and weak governance in parts of the country.
In response to earlier threats of U.S. intervention, Nigeria said it remains open to cooperation with Washington in combating extremist groups but rejected claims that Christians face targeted extermination.
Officials have stressed that both Christians and Muslims are killed by insurgents and criminal gangs, and that the government’s counterterrorism efforts are not based on religious identity.
The comments add a new layer of diplomatic sensitivity to U.S.–Nigeria relations. While Washington has long provided intelligence and security support to Abuja, Trump’s remarks suggest a more conditional and publicly confrontational posture tied to religious outcomes rather than solely counterterrorism objectives.
