President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States and Israel have already destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and warned that Tehran would face renewed military action if it attempts to rebuild its weapons capabilities. His remarks came as new reports allege the Iranian regime is pursuing chemical and biological warheads for its ballistic missiles.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump delivered a blunt warning to Tehran over its nuclear and missile ambitions.
“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” Trump said. “We’ll knock the hell out of them.” He added that Iran would be “much smarter” to pursue a deal.
Trump framed Iran’s defeat as central to restoring stability in the Middle East, crediting joint U.S.-Israeli military action with fundamentally shifting the regional balance of power.
“We just won a big war together,” he said. “If we didn’t beat Iran, you wouldn’t have had peace in the Middle East. We wiped it out.”
When asked whether he would support further Israeli military action if Iran continues advancing its missile or nuclear programs, Trump responded without hesitation.
“If they continue with the missiles — yes,” he said. “The nuclear — absolutely.”
Pressed on whether he would support efforts to overthrow Iran’s ruling regime, Trump declined, while pointing to the country’s internal turmoil and economic collapse.
“I’m not going to talk about overthrow of a regime,” he said. “But they have tremendous inflation. Their economy is busted.”
Trump also noted that widespread protests inside Iran are frequently met with deadly force by the government.
The president’s comments followed a report Sunday from Iran International alleging that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is accelerating work on unconventional missile payloads, including chemical and biological weapons. The report cited unnamed military and security sources.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) echoed Trump’s hardline stance in a Monday post on X, saying he would support military strikes to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
“Iran can’t ever develop a nuclear weapon,” Fetterman wrote.
“Fully supported the strike earlier this year. Fully support any future strikes to damage or destroy their nuclear ambitions,” added Fetterman, a vocal supporter of Israel.
WELL DONE , MR PRESIDENT. YOU HAVE ADDED FAR MORE TO OUR NATION BY REDUCING THE NUCLEAR DANGERS IN NATIONS WHICH ARE NOT WILLING OR ABLE TO PROVIDE SO MANY PEACEFUL ARMAMENT LIIMITS WHICH ENCOURAGE ALL NUCLEAR CAPABLE NATIONS TO FOLLOW OUR LEAD.
[email protected]