US President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed the thought of utilizing a nuclear weapon towards Iran, sharply rebuking a reporter’s query throughout an Oval Workplace occasion and insisting such a step was pointless after claiming Tehran’s forces had already been “completely defeated militarily.”
The change occurred late Monday, as Trump spoke with reporters following an announcement on reducing prescription drug costs.
NewsNation White Home correspondent Libbey Dean requested: “Have you ever dominated out utilizing a nuclear weapon towards Iran?”
Trump replied that he would “by no means say that,” however then affirmed the reply was sure, including there was “no cause for it.”
He continued: “They’re completely defeated militarily, so I defeat them, and now I ought to use a nuclear weapon on high of them? What a silly query.”
BREAKING: President Trump ERUPTS after a reporter asks him if he may nuke Iran, saying he’d NEVER try this
He then instructed the press to LEAVE the room
“I might by no means say that, however the reply is sure, I rule out nuclear. NO cause for it. WHAT A STUPID QUESTION that’s,… pic.twitter.com/u8fhYqP0QH
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 31, 2026
Trump repeated the phrase “what a silly query” and shortly ended the session, thanking reporters and having them ushered out earlier than Dean might observe up on one other matter.
The feedback got here towards the backdrop of a battle that has stretched into its sixth month.
Over the previous weekend, US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island close to the Strait of Hormuz—the primary identified US assault on Iranian territory in weeks—prompting Iran to fireside missiles in response.
Trump had earlier vowed to “hit them arduous” in response.
Trump has repeatedly described Iran’s army as dismantled, asserting its navy and air pressure are gone, its management is in disarray, and the nation faces extreme financial pressure together with excessive inflation.
He has framed the core US goal as making certain Iran by no means obtains a nuclear weapon, stating on Monday that “Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon” and warning that such a functionality would pose an existential risk to ‘Israel’.
This was not the primary time Trump rejected nuclear use towards Iran.
In April 2026 he instructed reporters he wouldn’t make use of such weapons, saying nuclear arms “ought to by no means be allowed for use by anyone” and that typical strikes had already “decimated” Iranian forces.
A White Home assertion after the most recent remarks famous that the president “retains all choices at his disposal” whereas describing Iran as searching for a deal however “all the time a day late and a greenback brief.”
