PresidentDonald Trumpthreatened that the United States would bring Iran "back to the Stone Ages where they belong" as he made the case for thewar on Iranin aprimetime address to the nationon April 1.
Trump claimed that "we are on track to complete all ofAmerica's military objectivesshortly," but did not give a timeframe on when the war would end. He said that the command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is "being decimated as we speak" and that "their missiles are just about used up or beaten."
Al JazeeraandThe Times of Israelboth reported that Iran launched missiles at Israel shortly after the speech concluded.
President Trump speaks to the nation on Iran from the White House
The president claimed that gas prices,a pain point for Americans during the war, would go down once the United States withdrew from the war and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen "automatically." He also called on countries that are reliant on oil that passes through the waterway to "grab it" and "take the lead in protecting the oil."
The speech came asdomestic support for the war is low, and as Trump's personal approval rating hasfallen for his second term.White House officials leading up to the event were already signaling they planned towithdraw from the fight soon.
Here's what Trump said during his primetime address on the Iran war.
Trump's Iran war speech: Transcript
Thank you very much. My fellow Americans, good evening.
Let me begin by congratulating the team at NASA and our brave astronauts on the successful launch of Artemis II. It was quite something.
It will be traveling further than any manned rocket has ever flown and will very substantially pass the moon, go around it, and come back home from a distance that has never been done before. It's amazing. They are on the way, and God bless them. These are brave people who want to God bless us for unbelievable astronauts.
As we speak this evening, it's been just one month since the United States military began Operation. Epic Fury, targeting the world's number one state sponsor of terror, Iran.
In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield victories like few people have ever seen before. Tonight, Iran's Navy is gone, their Air Force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime they led are now dead.
Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak. Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and their weapons, factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces. Very few of them left.
Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks. Our enemies are losing in America as it has been for five years under my presidency is winning and now winning bigger than ever before.
Before discussing this current situation, I also want to thank our troops for the masterful job theydid in taking the country of Venezuela in a matter of minutes. That it was quick, lethal, violent, andrespected by everyone all over the world.
After rebuilding our military during my first term, we have by far the strongest military anywhere in theworld and now we're working along with Venezuela, our in a true sense, joint venture partners.
We're getting along incredibly well in the production and sale of massive amounts of oil and gas. The second largest reserves on earth after the United States of America. We're now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help.
We don't have to be there. We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have, but we're there to help our allies.
Tonight, I want to provide an update on the tremendous progress our warriors have made in Iran and discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and the security of the free world. From the very first day I announced my campaign for president in 2015, I have vowed that I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
This fanatical regime has been chanting death to America, death to Israel for 47 years.
Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Smoke rises following an explosion after the U.S. and Israel reportedly launched an attack against Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026, in this screen grab taken from video." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
A plume of smoke rises following a reported explosion in Tehran on February 28, 2026. Two loud blasts were heard in Tehran on February 28 morning by AFP journalists, and two plumes of thick smoke were seen over the centre and east of the Iranian capital. Israel's defence ministry announced it had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran as sirens sounded in Jerusalem and people across the country received phone alerts about an "extremely serious" threat." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist after disembarking Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 27, 2026. Hours later, Trump made live comments about the military strikes he launched against Iran." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Buildings inin Tehran stand after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, February 28, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Latest photos capture US and Israeli strikes against Iran
Smoke rises following an explosion,after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026.
Their proxies were behind the murder of 241 Americans and the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut. The slaughter of hundreds of our service members with roadside bombs. They were involved in the attack on the USS Cole and they carried out the countless other heinous acts, including the blood, just horrible, bloody atrocities of October 7th in Israel. Something that most people have never seen anything like it.
This murderous regime also recently killed 45,000 of their own people who were protesting in Iran, 45,000 dead.
For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat. The most violent and thuggish regime on earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield. I will never let that happen, and neither should any of our past presidents.
This situation has been going on for 47 years and should have been handled long before I arrived inoffice.
I did many things during my two terms in office to stop the quest for nuclear weapons by Iran. First,and perhaps most importantly, I killed General Qasem Soleimani in my first term.
He was an evil genius, brilliant person, a horrible human being, however, the father of the roadside bomb. And he lived just horrible what he did. Iran would have been perhaps in a far better, stronger position had he lived we would have had probably a different conversation tonight. But you know what we'd still be winning and winning big.
And then very importantly, I terminated Barack Hussein Obama's Iran nuclear deal, a disaster. Obama gave them 1.7 billion in cash, green, green cash. Took it out of banks from Virginia, DC, and Maryland. All the cash they had. He flew it by airplanes in an attempt to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work.
They laughed at our president and went on with their mission to have a nuclear bomb. His Iran deal would have led to a colossal arsenal of massive nuclear weapons for Iran. They would have had them years ago and they would have used them. It would have been a different world.
There would have been no Middle East and no Israel right now, in my opinion, the opinion of a lot of great experts. Had I not terminated that terrible deal, I was so honored to do it. I was so proud to do it. It was so bad right from the beginning.
Essentially, I did what no other president was willing to do. They made mistakes and I am correcting them.
My first preference was always the path of diplomacy, yet the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected every attempt at an agreement.
For this reason in June, I ordered a strike on Iran's key nuclear facilities, an Operation Midnight Hammer.Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Those beautiful B2 bombers performed magnificently.
We totally obliterated those nuclear sites. The regime then sought to rebuild their nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear they had no intention of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons.
They were also rapidly building a vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles and would soon havehad missiles that could reach the American homeland, Europe, and virtually any other place on earth.
Iran's strategy was so obvious. They wanted to produce as many missiles as possible, and they did with the longest range possible, and they had some weapons that nobody believed they had. We just learned that out. We took them out, we took them all out so that no one would really dare stop them.
And their race for a nuclear bomb, a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapon like nobody's ever seen before.They were right at the doorstep. For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, butin the end, those are just words if you're not willing to take action when the time comes.
As I stated in my announcement of Operation Epic Fury, our objectives are very simple and clear. We are systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders.
That means eliminating Iran's Navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their Air Force and their missile program at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base. We've done all of it.
Their Navy is gone. Their Air Force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten.
Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran's military, crush their ability to support terrorist proxies and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb.
Our armed forces have been extraordinary.
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There's never been anything like it militarily. Everyone is talking about it, and tonight I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion.
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.Bahrain
Smoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Syria Syrian children stand on the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil on March 1, 2026. Loud explosions were heard early on March 1 near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq Members and officers from the Iraqi Interior Ministry's Explosives Directorate inspect the fuel tank of a rocket that landed in a rural village in the Siyahi area near the city of Hilla in the central Babil province on March 1, 2026. Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the U.S. and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war that started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar A prayer appealing to God for protection is projected on the dome of al-Hazm shopping mall in Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Bahrain A building that was damaged by an Iranian drone attack, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia The empty terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is pictured on March 1, 2026. Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the region into a new conflict. In Saudi Arabia, Iranian missiles targeting Riyadh's international airport and the Prince Sultan Airbase, which houses U.S. military personnel, were intercepted, a Gulf source briefed on the matter told AFP." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates A food delivery bike drive close to a plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates An oil tanker is pictured offshore in Dubai on March 1, 2026. Attacks have damaged tankers, and many ship owners, oil majors and trading houses suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Oman Smoke billows from an oil tanker under U.S. sanctions, that was hit off Oman's Musandam peninsula, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Kuwait Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the U.S. Embassy is located in Kuwait City on March 2, 2026. Black smoke was seen rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City on March 2 after the latest volley of Iranian strikes, an AFP correspondent saw," style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia A satellite image shows efforts to control a fire as smoke rises in the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia after a drone attack, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Turkey People make their way after crossing from Iran into Turkey at the Kapikoy Border Gate in eastern Van province,Turkey, March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Delivery persons ride motorcycles along a road as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Pieces of missiles and drones recovered after Iran's strikes are displayed during a press briefing by the UAE government held in Abu Dhabi on March 3, 2026. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across the Middle East on March 3, as the US president warned it was "too late" for the Islamic republic to seek talks to escape the war. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and U.S. embassies in the Gulf, Washington's ally Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Emergency personnel work at the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Jamaa Islamiya offices in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
See how the Iran war's fallout is hitting the Middle East
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of thewar launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.BahrainSmoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026.
As we celebrate this progress, we think, especially of the 13 American warriors who have laid down theirlives in this fight to prevent our children from ever having to face a nuclear Iran.
Twice this past month, I have traveled to Dover Air Force Base, and it's been something I wanted to be with those heroes as they return to American soil. And I was with them and their families, their parents, their wives, their husbands.
We salute them and now we must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their livesand every single one of the people. Their loved ones said, "Please, sir, please finish the job." Every one ofthem. And we are going to finish the job and we're going to finish it very fast.
We're getting very close.
I want to thank our allies in the Middle East, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain. They've been great, and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape, or form.
Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home.
This short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching during terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.
This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons. They will use them and theywill use them quickly. It would lead to decades of extortion, economic pain, and instability worse than we can ever imagine.
The United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat. You all know that we built the strongest economy in history. We're going through it right now, the strongest in history. In one year, we've taken a dead and crippled country. I hate to say that, but we were a dead and crippled country after the last administration and made it the hottest country anywhere in the world by far.
With no inflation, record-setting investments coming into the United States over $18 trillion and the highest stock market ever, with 53 all-time record highs in just one year. It all positioned us to get rid of a cancer that has long simmered.
It's known as the nuclear Iran, and they didn't know what was coming. They've never imagined it. Remember, because of our drill baby drill program, America has plenty of gas. We have so much gas. Under my leadership, we are number one producer of oil and gas on the planet without even discussing the millions of barrels that we're getting from Venezuela.
Because of the Trump administration's policies, we produced more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia andRussia combined. Think of that. Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, and that number will soon besubstantially higher than that.
There's no country like us anywhere in the world, and we're in great shape for the future. The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any in the future.
We don't need it. We haven't needed it and we don't need it.
We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated both militarily and economically and every other way.
And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the hormone straight must take care of thatpassage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will be helpful,but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.
So to those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves. I have a suggestion. Number one, buy oil from the United States of America. We have plenty. We have so much. And number two, build up some delayed courage. Should have done it before, should have done it with us as we asked. Go to the Strait and just take it, protect it. Use it for yourselves.
Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy.
And in any event, when this conflict is over, the straight will open up naturally. It'll just open up naturally. They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and rebuild. It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down.
Stock prices will rapidly go back up. They haven't come down very much, frankly. They came down alittle bit, but they've had some very good days over the last couple of days. We've done actually muchbetter than I thought, but we had to take that little journey to Iran to get rid of this horrible threat.
With our historic tax cuts, where people are just now talking about receiving larger refunds than they ever thought possible. They are getting so much more money than they thought.
That's from the great Big Beautiful Bill. Our economy is strong and improving by the day, and it will soon be roaring back like never before. It will top the levels that it was a month ago.
I've made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly.
We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.
In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders death. They're all dead.
The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets.
If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously.
We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding, but we could hit it and it would be gone and there's not a thing they could do about it.
They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilated.
We are unstoppable as a military force.
The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the nuclear dust, and we have under intense satellite surveillance and control. If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we'll hit them with missiles very hard again.
We have all the cards, they have none.
It's very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. American involvement in World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months, and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month, and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months, and 28 days.
We are in this military operation, so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for32 days, and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat.
They were the bully of the Middle East, but they're the bully no longer. This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren's future.
The whole world is watching, and they can't leave the power, strength, and brilliance. They just can't believe what they're seeing. They leave it to your imagination, but they can't believe what they're seeing, the brilliance of the United States military.
Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail. Because of the actions we have taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran's sinister threat to America and the world, and I'll tell you, the world is watching.
And when we do, when it's all over, the United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous, andgreater than it has ever been before.
May God bless the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much and good night.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Donald Trump's speech on the Iran war. Read the full transcript
