White House denies Trump suggested Iran should ‘take out’ California’s largest cities

The White House pushes back after Democrats accuse US President Donald Trump of suggesting Iran should “take out” the major American cities of Los Angeles and San Diego.

Viral footage shows comments by Trump at a midterm elections rally in Nebraska on Monday, where he said high oil prices from the Iran war were justified by the need to stop Tehran getting nuclear weapons.

“It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” Trump said.

“They can take out a city. Let them take, let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon.”

Democrats — who control the state of California where both Los Angeles and San Diego are located — accuse the 80-year-old Republican president of encouraging Iran to hit the two urban centers.

“Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego. He is deranged and dangerous,” California Governor Gavin Newsom says on X.

“The nuclear annihilation of an American city is no laughing matter,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the US House of Representatives, said on X.

But the White House insists Trump was talking about the threat posed by Iran, branding it a “media freakout” that is “not rooted in reality.”

“He was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung says on X.