【Iran Crisis】 Several oil tankers approach the strait attempting to breach the passage; Iran issues warnings. Trump press conference: Iran's war will end soon but refuses to commit to a timeline (updating).

Oil prices plummeted by 10%. Brent crude fell 9% to $90.3, and NYMEX crude dropped 8% to $87. Reports indicate large-scale strikes erupted in Tehran and Karaj, with protests also reported in Isfahan and Tabriz. Tehran experienced widespread power outages.

After Trump’s speech, according to shipping sources, several oil tankers approached the Strait of Hormuz, seemingly attempting to break through. Trump stated that the U.S. military has deployed strong forces and mine-clearing equipment in the Strait, and if necessary, will provide “political risk insurance” and personally escort commercial ships. He emphasized that Iran will not be allowed to cut off global oil supplies.

▼Click image to enlarge

According to semi-official Iranian media Fars News Agency, a senior Iranian military official warned, “Until further notice, we will not allow even a single liter of oil to be exported to hostile parties and their allies.”

🔴 One senior Iranian military official told Al Mayadeen: “Until further notice, we will not allow even a liter of oil to be exported in the region to hostile parties and their partners.”
— Fars News Agency (@FarsNews_Agency) March 9, 2026

Trump held a press conference, refusing to promise an end to the war “within days or this week,” but stressing it will be “very quick.” He pointed out that Iran’s military assets—including navy, air force, radar, and leadership—have been almost entirely destroyed, so the operation will not take long. He mentioned that current military progress is unprecedented; progress that was expected to take a month has been achieved ahead of schedule.

He claimed to have dealt a heavy blow to Iran’s military, sinking 51 naval vessels, completely destroying its drone manufacturing facilities, and reducing its missile capability to below 10%. Over 5,000 targets have been struck, including high-value strategic targets multiple times. The highest Iranian leadership has been eliminated two to three times. Iran’s secret underground nuclear facilities have been destroyed to prevent nuclear weapons development.

He stated that Iran’s power grid and core infrastructure remain intact as leverage; any retaliation would result in catastrophic consequences. He said the most dangerous phase of the war was over within three days.

He expressed hope that Iran would nominate a new leader willing to pursue peace. He was disappointed that Iran chose the son of Khamenei as the new supreme leader.

He emphasized that securing the Strait is mainly to stabilize the global economy, explicitly mentioning that this action helps countries like China that rely on the route. “I want to keep it open. I want to keep it good. You know, it doesn’t affect us as much as it does China. We’re actually helping China and other countries because they get much of their energy from the strait. But we have good relations with China. I’m proud to do this.”

Summary of the press conference:

“Over the past weekend, the U.S. military and Israeli Defense Forces continued to execute Operation Epic Fury successfully. Over nine days, they launched the most powerful and complex military strikes and tactical exercises ever seen. If you combine these actions with others—such as Operation Midnight Hammer, which eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat entirely, and the significant successes in Venezuela and elsewhere—you will see historic victories.”

“While advancing these operations, we have also made major progress in achieving military objectives. Some might say these goals are already quite well achieved. We have thoroughly and completely eliminated every armed force inside Iran. Most of Iran’s navy has been sunk—51 vessels, I was told. I didn’t even know they had so many ships, but they didn’t last long. These are combat vessels meant for fighting, but they are no match for us.”

“We continue to target Iran’s drone and missile capabilities. Their drone numbers have been drastically reduced. Their drone manufacturing plants are under full attack from today. We have seized all their drone production sites and are destroying them one by one. Their missile capability has dropped to about 10%, possibly less. We have also precisely struck their missile manufacturing and transportation facilities. So far, over 5,000 targets have been hit, including very strategic ones. But we are holding back some of the most critical targets for future use. If we hit those, they would need years to rebuild, affecting power generation and many other vital infrastructures. So unless absolutely necessary, we do not plan to go that far. These targets are easy to hit, but once hit, the consequences would be devastating. We are monitoring what happens before deciding whether to strike them. We could destroy all of them in a day.”

“All these actions have caused about 90% of Iran’s military capabilities to decline across various domains, especially their missile launchers. Drone launchers are down 83%. Their drone launchers are almost destroyed, and missile launchers have declined over 90%. These are highly sophisticated, hard-to-replicate devices. Usually, with our advanced equipment and top talent, we can destroy a missile launcher within five minutes or less after it fires.”

“Now, we have low-cost intercept systems that effectively counter Iran’s drones. Our B-2 bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound bombs across Iran to destroy missile launchers, often penetrating underground facilities that cannot withstand such penetrations. We are also destroying their drone and missile industries at an unprecedented pace. We know their locations precisely and are eliminating them rapidly. Our progress has far exceeded initial timelines. I dare say, we probably never imagined we’d make such progress in a month.”

“Additionally, we have eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, we believe they should nominate a new president or leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff that they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

“As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try to cut off global oil supplies. If Iran takes any reckless action, they will face far more devastating strikes than now. I will destroy those vulnerable infrastructure targets I mentioned. We will do it very quickly. They will never recover. If they want to play this dangerous game, they better think twice. In the long run, without Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear threats, or other threats, oil supplies will be much safer. The Strait of Hormuz will remain absolutely secure. We have deployed a large number of powerful naval vessels and the world’s best mine-clearing equipment there. Again, most of their ships are already sunk.”

“But we will strike them so hard that they or anyone trying to help them will never regain influence in that region, as long as they dare to act recklessly. Over recent years, this regime and its terrorist proxies have indiscriminately attacked hundreds of commercial ships. We are ending this threat. The ultimate result will be a significant reduction in oil and natural gas prices for American families. We have already achieved this, bringing prices down very low. This is a necessary military action to address a problem that must be solved. We are very close to fully accomplishing this goal.”

“Meanwhile, during this brief interruption, the U.S. will provide political risk insurance to any oil tanker operating in the Persian Gulf. We are offering solid risk coverage, and perhaps we will escort them personally through the strait if needed. We have the world’s most powerful mine-clearing capabilities, the largest invincible fleet, and precise knowledge of their minefield locations. We will clear them quickly. We are far ahead of schedule. I dare say, we probably never thought we’d be this far in just a month.”

“Furthermore, we have already eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, they should nominate a new leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

“As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try to cut off global oil supplies. If Iran takes any reckless action, they will face far more devastating strikes than now. I will destroy those vulnerable infrastructure targets I mentioned. We will do it very quickly. They will never recover. If they want to play this dangerous game, they better think twice. In the long run, without Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear threats, or other threats, oil supplies will be much safer. The Strait of Hormuz will remain absolutely secure. We have deployed a large number of powerful naval vessels and the world’s best mine-clearing equipment there. Again, most of their ships are already sunk.”

“But we will strike them so hard that they or anyone trying to help them will never regain influence in that region, as long as they dare to act recklessly. Over recent years, this regime and its terrorist proxies have indiscriminately attacked hundreds of commercial ships. We are ending this threat. The ultimate result will be a significant reduction in oil and natural gas prices for American families. We have already achieved this, bringing prices down very low. This is a necessary military action to address a problem that must be solved. We are very close to fully accomplishing this goal.”

“Meanwhile, during this brief interruption, the U.S. will provide political risk insurance to any oil tanker operating in the Persian Gulf. We are offering solid risk coverage, and perhaps we will escort them personally through the strait if needed. We have the world’s most powerful mine-clearing capabilities, the largest invincible fleet, and precise knowledge of their minefield locations. We will clear them quickly. We are far ahead of schedule. I dare say, we probably never thought we’d be this far in just a month.”

“Furthermore, we have already eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, they should nominate a new leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

“As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try to cut off global oil supplies. If Iran takes any reckless action, they will face far more devastating strikes than now. I will destroy those vulnerable infrastructure targets I mentioned. We will do it very quickly. They will never recover. If they want to play this dangerous game, they better think twice. In the long run, without Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear threats, or other threats, oil supplies will be much safer. The Strait of Hormuz will remain absolutely secure. We have deployed a large number of powerful naval vessels and the world’s best mine-clearing equipment there. Again, most of their ships are already sunk.”

“But we will strike them so hard that they or anyone trying to help them will never regain influence in that region, as long as they dare to act recklessly. Over recent years, this regime and its terrorist proxies have indiscriminately attacked hundreds of commercial ships. We are ending this threat. The ultimate result will be a significant reduction in oil and natural gas prices for American families. We have already achieved this, bringing prices down very low. This is a necessary military action to address a problem that must be solved. We are very close to fully accomplishing this goal.”

“Meanwhile, during this brief interruption, the U.S. will provide political risk insurance to any oil tanker operating in the Persian Gulf. We are offering solid risk coverage, and perhaps we will escort them personally through the strait if needed. We have the world’s most powerful mine-clearing capabilities, the largest invincible fleet, and precise knowledge of their minefield locations. We will clear them quickly. We are far ahead of schedule. I dare say, we probably never thought we’d be this far in just a month.”

“Furthermore, we have already eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, they should nominate a new leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

“As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try to cut off global oil supplies. If Iran takes any reckless action, they will face far more devastating strikes than now. I will destroy those vulnerable infrastructure targets I mentioned. We will do it very quickly. They will never recover. If they want to play this dangerous game, they better think twice. In the long run, without Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear threats, or other threats, oil supplies will be much safer. The Strait of Hormuz will remain absolutely secure. We have deployed a large number of powerful naval vessels and the world’s best mine-clearing equipment there. Again, most of their ships are already sunk.”

“But we will strike them so hard that they or anyone trying to help them will never regain influence in that region, as long as they dare to act recklessly. Over recent years, this regime and its terrorist proxies have indiscriminately attacked hundreds of commercial ships. We are ending this threat. The ultimate result will be a significant reduction in oil and natural gas prices for American families. We have already achieved this, bringing prices down very low. This is a necessary military action to address a problem that must be solved. We are very close to fully accomplishing this goal.”

“Meanwhile, during this brief interruption, the U.S. will provide political risk insurance to any oil tanker operating in the Persian Gulf. We are offering solid risk coverage, and perhaps we will escort them personally through the strait if needed. We have the world’s most powerful mine-clearing capabilities, the largest invincible fleet, and precise knowledge of their minefield locations. We will clear them quickly. We are far ahead of schedule. I dare say, we probably never thought we’d be this far in just a month.”

“Furthermore, we have already eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, they should nominate a new leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

“As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try to cut off global oil supplies. If Iran takes any reckless action, they will face far more devastating strikes than now. I will destroy those vulnerable infrastructure targets I mentioned. We will do it very quickly. They will never recover. If they want to play this dangerous game, they better think twice. In the long run, without Iranian ships, drones, missiles, nuclear threats, or other threats, oil supplies will be much safer. The Strait of Hormuz will remain absolutely secure. We have deployed a large number of powerful naval vessels and the world’s best mine-clearing equipment there. Again, most of their ships are already sunk.”

“But we will strike them so hard that they or anyone trying to help them will never regain influence in that region, as long as they dare to act recklessly. Over recent years, this regime and its terrorist proxies have indiscriminately attacked hundreds of commercial ships. We are ending this threat. The ultimate result will be a significant reduction in oil and natural gas prices for American families. We have already achieved this, bringing prices down very low. This is a necessary military action to address a problem that must be solved. We are very close to fully accomplishing this goal.”

“Meanwhile, during this brief interruption, the U.S. will provide political risk insurance to any oil tanker operating in the Persian Gulf. We are offering solid risk coverage, and perhaps we will escort them personally through the strait if needed. We have the world’s most powerful mine-clearing capabilities, the largest invincible fleet, and precise knowledge of their minefield locations. We will clear them quickly. We are far ahead of schedule. I dare say, we probably never thought we’d be this far in just a month.”

“Furthermore, we have already eliminated their top leadership two or three times. As you know, we had to intervene. We don’t want a future president (if it’s someone else) to hesitate to do what I decisively did, which could lead us back into the same quagmire in five or ten years. So, they should nominate a new leader capable of peaceful change. For 47 years, they have been killing. 47 years! Whether it’s military explosions or the USS Cole attack, they have been deeply involved, despite denying it. They are complicit in all these tragedies—those who died, and now those who have lost limbs or suffered severe facial injuries. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans and spreading terrorism worldwide for 47 years.”

“Despite numerous opportunities to abandon nuclear ambitions—just recently, they clung to these ambitions and told Witkoff they wanted to continue building nuclear weapons. If we hadn’t launched Midnight Hammer and destroyed their nuclear capabilities, they would have had nuclear weapons long ago and would have used them. At least Israel would have faced annihilation. We are fortunate to have the courage to act, with talented pilots and excellent equipment. The B-2 bombers are incredible. (By the way, we’ve ordered 25 upgraded, better versions.) We have the greatest military in the world, far ahead of anyone else. Wherever we go, you can see it. But you need the best personnel to operate and use it, and that’s what we value most.”

“Even after thoroughly destroying their key nuclear facilities, Iran has never genuinely negotiated during Midnight Hammer. They still insist on developing nuclear weapons, refusing to accept any limits on uranium enrichment. They even rejected a generous offer to supply nuclear fuel for free for an indefinite period. We proposed to supply nuclear fuel for free, but they weren’t interested—they only want nuclear weapons.”

“So, the regime is trying to secretly rebuild its weapons program elsewhere. They can’t go back to the three sites we destroyed, so they are working at another location, in a different concealed terrain, protected by hard granite. They want protection, and granite is tough, but they aim to go deeper underground. They have started this process while rapidly developing conventional ballistic missiles. They plan to pursue both simultaneously, which threatens our overseas bases and soon our homeland. Their evil plan is to use this exponential growth of ballistic missiles to make it nearly impossible for the world to stop their eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons.”

“So, as you can see, they once had an astonishing number of missiles, most of which are now gone or destroyed, and their use has been disastrous because we can intercept most of them. The Patriot missile system and other advanced defenses are incredible. Our laser technology is also remarkable and will soon be fully operational. We will have laser weapons capable of low-cost, precise strikes with Patriot and other defense systems.”

“The situation is rapidly approaching an irreversible point, and the U.S. considers this absolutely unacceptable. Based on intelligence—deeply involved—I thought they were about to attack us. I firmly believe that if we hadn’t preempted, they would have intended to attack America. If you notice, they did something extremely foolish—they attacked their neighbors. Their neighbors are mostly neutral or not involved in the conflict, yet they were attacked without cause. This backfired badly; those neighbors immediately turned to us and began to fight back, and they are very successful. Look at Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others—they are strong and smart, but they were attacked. When I first heard this, I said no, someone must have misread the intelligence. But it wasn’t a mistake. The UAE was hit by over 1,000 missiles, yet they nearly shot them all down.”

“On my first day riding the escalator in 2015, I said, ‘I will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.’ What I am doing now is fulfilling that promise. Think back—this was a warning I issued in 2015. It was a threat, which later became a bigger threat, but now it’s no longer a threat, at least for a long time. We want to maintain this peace.”

"As we continue Operation Epic Fury, we are also highly focused on ensuring the smooth flow of global energy and oil. I will never allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and try