Overview

• Trump compared US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during a NATO summit on June 25.
• Last week, Hiroshima’s city assembly passed a motion condemning remarks that justify the use of atomic bombs.
• Survivors and local residents held a small demonstration at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial to protest the president’s analogy.
• On July 2, Mayor Kazumi Matsui formally invited Trump to visit the bombed area and urged him to retract his comparison.
• Advocates including Nobel Peace Prize–winning survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo stress that personal encounters with the aftermath are vital to understanding nuclear devastation.