The US President laid out his case against the Iran nuclear pact and detailed military objectives as Washington and Tehran move deeper into confrontation.
US President Donald Trump (File photo: X/@WhiteHouse)
US President Donald Trump has strongly defended his decision to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, insisting it stopped Tehran from going nuclear. He also signalled that US military operations against Iran will continue, as tensions in West Asia spiral after deadly airstrikes and retaliatory attacks.
The remarks come days after coordinated US and Israeli strikes across multiple Iranian cities on February 28, followed by Iran’s missile and drone retaliation targeting US-linked assets and regional allies.
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Trump said pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement in 2018 prevented Tehran from acquiring nuclear arms years ago.
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“If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrendous Iran Nuclear Deal, Iran would have had a Nuclear Weapon three years ago,” he wrote on Truth Social. He blamed former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for backing the deal and called it the “most dangerous transaction” the US had entered into.
He added that he was “very proud” to have ended it and would not allow Iran to go nuclear.
Trump warned that Iran’s ballistic missile programme had expanded rapidly and posed a serious danger to the US and its forces overseas.
He said Iran already had missiles capable of striking Europe and American bases, and was moving closer to developing long-range systems that could hit the United States. According to him, the missile programme was meant to shield nuclear ambitions and make intervention harder.
Trump outlined what he described as three core objectives: destroy Iran’s missile capability, weaken its naval forces, and ensure it never obtains a nuclear weapon.
He claimed several Iranian naval ships had already been sunk and said Washington would also stop Iran from arming and directing militant groups outside its borders.
“We have the strongest and most powerful military in the world, and we will easily prevail,” he said.
The President said US operations were progressing faster than initially projected. While earlier estimates suggested key goals could take weeks, he claimed major targets had already been neutralised far sooner.
“We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership, and as you know, that was done in about an hour,” he said.
Trump dismissed suggestions that he was looking for a short campaign. “I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this,” he said, adding that the US had the capability to continue operations well beyond initial timelines.
The February 28 strikes targeted military command centres, air-defence systems, missile sites and key infrastructure in multiple Iranian cities. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and four senior military and security officials were killed in the attacks.
Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles and drones at US assets and allies, including Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
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