Iran War: Trump tells America "the hard part is done" in speech to the nation

[0:00] thank you very much my fellow americans good evening let me begin by congratulating the team [0:08] at nasa and our brave astronauts on the successful launch of artemis ii it was quite something [0:16] it will be traveling further than any manned rocket has ever flown and will [0:21] very substantially pass the moon go around it and come back home from a distance that has never been [0:28] done before it's amazing they are on the way and god bless them these are brave people who want to [0:37] god bless those four unbelievable astronauts as we speak this evening it's been just one month since [0:45] the united states military began operation epic fury targeting the world's number one state [0:53] sponsor of terror iran in these past four weeks our armed forces have delivered swift decisive [1:02] and overwhelming victories on the battlefield victories like few people have ever seen before [1:09] tonight iran's navy is gone their air force is in ruins their leaders most of them terrorist [1:19] regime they led are now dead their command and control of the islamic revolutionary [1:27] guard corps is being decimated as we speak their ability to launch missiles and drones is [1:34] dramatically curtailed [1:36] and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces very few of them left [1:44] never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale [1:49] losses in a matter of weeks our enemies are losing in america as it has been for five years [1:57] under my presidency is winning and now winning bigger than ever before before discussing this [2:05] current situation i also want to thank our troops for [2:08] the massive job they did in taking the country of venezuela in a matter of minutes [2:15] that it was quick lethal violent and respected by everyone all over the world [2:20] after rebuilding our military during my first term we have by far the strongest military [2:26] anywhere in the world and now we're working along with venezuela and are in a true sense [2:33] joint venture partners we're getting along incredibly well in the production and sale of [2:38] massive amounts of oil and gas the state of the island is in a state of emergency and the state of [2:41] second largest reserves on earth after the united states of america we're now totally independent [2:49] of the middle east and yet we are there to help we don't have to be there we don't need their oil [2:56] we don't need anything they have but we're there to help our allies tonight i want to provide an [3:02] update on the tremendous progress our warriors have made in iran and discuss why operation epic [3:09] fury is necessary for the safety of america and the future of the united states and the future of [3:12] the united states and the security of the free world from the very first day i announced my [3:18] campaign for president in 2015 i have vowed that i would never allow iran to have a nuclear weapon [3:27] this vernacular regime has been chanting death to america death to israel for 47 years their [3:36] proxies were behind the murder of 241 americans in the marine barracks bombing in beirut [3:43] the slaughter of hundreds of our service members with roadside bombs they were involved in the [3:49] attack on the uss call and they carried out the countless other heinous acts including the blood [3:57] just horrible bloody atrocities of october 7th in israel something that most people have never seen [4:06] anything like it this murderous regime also recently killed 45 000 of their own people [4:14] who were protesting in iran [4:15] 45 000 dead for these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat the most [4:24] violent and thuggish regime on earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror [4:30] coercion conquest and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield i will never let that happen [4:37] and neither should any of our past presidents this situation has been going on for 47 years and [4:46] should have been handled long before i arrived in office i did many things during my two terms in [4:53] office to stop the quest for nuclear weapons by iran first and perhaps most importantly i killed [5:01] general qasem salimani in my first term he was an evil genius brilliant person [5:10] a horrible human being however the father of the roadside bomb and he lived just horrible what he [5:17] did. Iran would have been perhaps in far better, stronger position. Had he lived, [5:24] we would have had probably a different conversation tonight. But you know what? [5:28] We'd still be winning and winning big. And then very importantly, I terminated Barack Hussein [5:34] Obama's Iran nuclear deal, a disaster. Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash, green, green cash, [5:43] took it out of banks from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, all the cash they had. He flew it by [5:51] airplanes in an attempt to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work. They laughed at our [5:56] president and went on with their mission to have a nuclear bomb. His Iran deal would have led to [6:03] a colossal arsenal of massive nuclear weapons for Iran. They would have had them years ago, [6:10] and they would have used them. Would have been a different world. There would have been no [6:14] Middle East and. [6:15] Israel right now, in my opinion, the opinion of a lot of great experts had I not terminated that [6:21] terrible deal. And I was I was so honored to do it. I was so proud to do it. It was so bad right [6:26] from the beginning. Essentially, I did what no other president was willing to do. They made [6:32] mistakes and I am correcting them. My first preference was always the path of diplomacy. Yet [6:39] the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected every attempt at [6:46] an agreement. [6:47] For this reason, in June, I ordered a strike on Iran's key nuclear facilities and Operation [6:54] Midnight Hammer. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Those beautiful B two bombers performed [7:01] magnificently. We totally obliterated those nuclear sites. The regime then sought to rebuild [7:08] their nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear they had no intention [7:13] of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons. [7:18] Also rapidly building a vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles and would soon [7:24] have had missiles that could reach the American homeland, Europe and virtually any other place [7:29] on Earth. Iran's strategy was so obvious they wanted to produce as many missiles as possible, [7:37] and they did with the longest range possible. And they had some weapons that nobody believed [7:44] they had. We just learned that out. We took them out. We took them all out so that no one would. [7:49] really dare stop them and their race for a nuclear bomb, a nuclear weapon, [7:54] a nuclear weapon like nobody's ever seen before. They were right at the doorstep. [8:00] For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. But in the end, [8:05] those are just words if you're not willing to take action when the time comes. [8:11] As I stated in my announcement of Operation Epic Fury, our objectives are very simple and clear. We [8:19] are systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power [8:25] outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran's navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, [8:34] hurting their air force and their missile program at levels never seen before and [8:39] annihilating their defense industrial base. We've done all of it. Their navy is gone. [8:44] Their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten, taken together, [8:50] and destroyed. And it's hard to imagine whether these actions will cripple Iran military, [8:55] crush their ability to support terrorist proxies, and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb. [9:02] Our armed forces have been extraordinary. There's never been anything like it militarily. Everyone [9:09] is talking about it. And tonight I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are [9:15] nearing completion. As we celebrate this progress, we think, especially, of the 13 [9:21] who have laid down their lives in this fight to prevent our children from ever having to face [9:27] a nuclear Iran. Twice this past month I have traveled to Dover Air Force Base and it's been [9:35] something I wanted to be with those heroes as they return to American soil and I was with them [9:42] and their families, their parents, their wives, their husbands. We salute them and now we must [9:48] honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives and every single one of the [9:54] people their loved ones said please sir please finish the job every one of them and we are going [10:02] to finish the job and we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close. I want to [10:06] thank our allies in the Middle East, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. [10:15] They've been great and we will not let them [10:19] get away with it. [10:19] hurt or fail in any way shape or form. Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent [10:26] rise in gasoline prices here at home. The short-term increase has been entirely the result [10:33] of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and [10:38] neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict. This is yet more proof that Iran can [10:45] never be trusted with nuclear weapons. They will use them and they will use them quickly. [10:49] It would lead to decades of extortion, economic pain and instability worse than we can ever [10:57] imagine. The United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat. You [11:03] all know that we built the strongest economy in history. We're going through it right now, [11:09] the strongest in history. In one year we've taken a dead and crippled country. I hate to say that [11:17] but we were a dead and crippled country after the [11:20] last administration and made it the hottest country anywhere in the world by far with no inflation, record-setting [11:29] investments coming into the United States over 18 trillion dollars and the highest stock market ever [11:36] with 53 all-time record highs in just one year. It all positioned us to get rid of a cancer that [11:44] has long simmered. It's known as the nuclear Iran and they didn't know what was coming. They've [11:52] never imagined it. Remember because of our drill baby drill program, America has plenty of gas. We [11:58] have so much gas. Under my leadership, we are number one producer of oil and gas on the planet [12:04] without even discussing the millions of barrels that we're getting from Venezuela. Because of the [12:11] Trump administration's policies, we produce more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. [12:17] Think of that, Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. And that number will soon be the same. [12:22] There's no country like us anywhere in the world and we're in great shape for the future. [12:31] The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any [12:38] in the future. We don't need it. We haven't needed it and we don't need it. We've beaten [12:44] and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated both militarily and economically and every [12:51] other way. [12:53] The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that [12:59] passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will [13:06] be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately [13:11] depend on. So to those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in [13:18] the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves. I have a suggestion. [13:23] Number one, buy oil from the United States of America. We have plenty. We have so much. [13:28] And number two, build up some delayed courage. Should have done it before. Should have done [13:33] it with us, as we asked. Go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves. [13:40] Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy. And in [13:47] any event, when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. It'll just [13:52] open up naturally. [13:53] They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and [13:58] rebuild. It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock [14:04] prices will rapidly go back up. They haven't come down very much, frankly. They came down [14:10] a little bit, but they've had some very good days over the last couple of days. We've done [14:15] actually much better than I thought. But we had to take that little journey to Iran to [14:19] get rid of this horrible threat. [14:22] With our historic tax cuts, where people have been forced to pay their taxes, we've had [14:24] a lot of good things happen. We've made it through. We've made it through. We've made [14:25] it through. [14:26] And we're going to keep going. We're going to keep going. [14:27] And I think it's going to be a very, very good year for us. [14:28] And look, here's a little bit about the economy. People are just now talking about receiving [14:29] larger refunds than they ever thought possible. They are getting so much more money than they [14:32] thought. That's from the great, big, beautiful bill. Our economy is strong and improving [14:36] by the day, and it will soon be roaring back like never before. It will top the levels [14:42] that it was a month ago. I've made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that [14:47] we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we've [14:53] made, I can say, I'm doing a good job. And I'm going to keep going. And I'm going to [14:54] say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, [15:00] very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're [15:06] going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are [15:13] ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred [15:20] because of all of their original leaders' death. They're all dead. The new group is less radical [15:29] and much more reasonable. Yet, if during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes [15:35] on key targets. If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric [15:41] generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously. We have not hit their oil, [15:47] even though that's the easiest target of all, [15:51] that would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it, [15:58] and it would be gone, and there's not a thing they could do about it. They have no anti-aircraft [16:03] equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force. [16:12] The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would [16:18] take months to get near the nuclear dust. [16:21] And we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control. If we see them make a move, even [16:28] a move for it, we'll hit them with missiles very hard again. We have all the cards. They [16:35] have none. It's very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. [16:41] American involvement in World War I lasted one year, seven months, and five days. World [16:49] War II lasted for three years, eight months, and ten years. And there were a number of [16:50] operations that we virtually lost not the nuclear supplies, but nuclear weapons, the [16:51] nuclear broccoli that wetes. And we see very spellbred Russia from the base of Russia. We [16:52] and 25 days the korean war lasted for three years one month and two days the vietnam war lasted for [17:00] 19 years five months and 29 days iraq went on for eight years eight months and 28 days [17:10] we are in this military operation so powerful so brilliant against one of the most powerful [17:15] countries for 32 days and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really [17:24] no longer a threat they were the bully of the middle east but they're the bully no longer [17:30] this is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren's future the whole world is [17:36] watching and they can't leave the power strength and brilliance they just can't believe what [17:43] they're seeing they leave it to your imagination but they can't believe what [17:47] they're seeing the brilliance of the united states military tonight every american can [17:53] look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of iranian aggression and [17:59] the specter of nuclear black belt because of the actions we have taken we are on the cusp of [18:05] ending iran sinister threat to america and the world and i'll tell you the world is watching and [18:11] when we do when it's all over the united states will be safer stronger [18:18] more prosperous and greater than it has ever been before may god bless the men and women of the [18:24] united states armed forces and may god bless the united states of america thank you very much and [18:31] good night