Trump: ‘I’ll solve the Iran problem; if we have to do something very harsh, we’ll do it’
President issues threat of military action, even as countries hold talks on regime’s nuclear program; US Air Force posts video year after helping Israel thwart huge Iran missile attack
US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to “solve” the issue of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, even if it means taking “very harsh” actions to thwart them, amid escalating threats that have accompanied efforts at diplomacy between the countries on the matter.
“We’ve got a problem with Iran. I’ll solve that problem. It’s almost an easy one,” Trump declared, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador.
“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “I want them to be a rich, great nation. The only thing is, one thing, simple, it’s really simple: They can’t have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve gotta go fast. Because they’re fairly close to having one. And they’re not going to have one.”
“And if we have to do something very harsh, we’ll do it,” he added. “And I’m not doing it for us. I’m doing it for the world. These are radicalized people, and they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
He was asked, regarding his reference to something harsh, “Does that include a potential strike on Iranian nuclear facilities?” And he answered: “Of course it does.”
Trump also said of Iran: “I think they’re tapping us along because they were so used to dealing with stupid people in this country.”
It appeared that Trump meant that Tehran was stringing the US along.
.@POTUS: "Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon… I think they're tapping us along because they were so used to dealing with stupid people in this country." pic.twitter.com/tfMQXo1GGu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 14, 2025
His comments came just days after the highest-level Iran-US negotiations since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear accord. The fresh talks, which were mediated by Oman and took place in the Omani capital of Muscat on Saturday, included a conversation between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Iran and the US separately described Saturday’s discussions as “constructive.” The next round of talks is scheduled for this coming Saturday in Rome.
On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “We’ll be making a decision on Iran very quickly.”
Last week, Iran threatened to halt cooperation with IAEA inspectors if the US continued to threaten use of force if talks collapsed, with an adviser to Khamenei saying, “Continued external threats and putting Iran under the conditions of a military attack could lead to deterrent measures like the expulsion of IAEA inspectors and ceasing cooperation with it.”
While Trump has said the talks in Oman were the “start” of the process of putting Iran in a position to “thrive,” he has repeatedly threatened use of force if negotiations fail, and last Wednesday said Israel would take the leading role in a potential strike on Iran.
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that — it’ll be the leader of that,” he said, in what appeared to be the first time he explicitly threatened an Iranian strike by Israel.
Efforts to settle a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program have ebbed and flowed for more than 20 years without resolution.
During his first term of office in 2018, Trump tore up a 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers — the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — that had been signed by his predecessor, Barak Obama, and also imposed stiff sanctions on Iran. Iran responded by dropping some of its commitments to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Joe Biden then lifted some of the sanctions and tried to revive the JCPOA, an effort that ended in 2023.
‘You would never have had October 7’
In Monday’s Oval Office meeting, Trump argued that the sanctions he imposed at the time would have stopped aggression by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas.
“I had Iran perfect,” he boasted. “You had no attacks. You would have never had October 7 [2023] in Israel, the attack by Hamas, because Iran was broke. They were stone cold broke.”
Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has been enriching uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and has expanded its ballistic missile capabilities, and its officials have increasingly warned that they could pursue the bomb.
Trump revealed that the US was holding talks with Iran about its nuclear program during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House earlier this month. Netanyahu, who fiercely opposed the JCPOA, said during the meeting that he supported a diplomatic approach to halting Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons.
“We’re both united in the goal that Iran does not get nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said, sitting alongside the president in the Oval Office. “If it can be done diplomatically, in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.”
The negotiations began weeks after Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.
Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic relations since shortly after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah and Iran’s subsequent seizure of the US embassy in Tehran and its holding of 52 American diplomats as hostages.
‘The radar just lit up’
Exactly a year since Iran’s April 13-14, 2024, first-ever direct attack on Israel, the US Air Force on Sunday shared a video of its pilots’ actions that day as they assisted Israel in fighting off the massive assault, with snippets of interviews with airmen on their experiences.
Iran fired some 300 missiles and drones that night, most of which were intercepted by American, Israeli, British and Jordanian military forces.
“One year ago today, Iran launched 300 missiles and drones at Israel,” USAF Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in the footage.
One year ago today, Iran launched 300 missiles and drones at Israel. Our aviators risked everything to stop it. These heroes will never know how many innocent lives they saved that night. Hear the story from those who lived it. Damn proud of these patriots! pic.twitter.com/ekiXHhRmAS
— General David Allvin (@OfficialCSAF) April 13, 2025
“Our aviators risked everything to stop it. These heroes will never know how many innocent lives they saved that night. Hear the story from those who lived it. Damn proud of these patriots!”
