Trump says an Iran with nuclear weapons would be ‘intolerable threat’ to US in first public comments

President Donald Trump has made his first public comments after launching strikes on Iran this weekend, saying that the country’s long range missiles and nuclear weapons program posed as “intolerable threat” to the United States.

“The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America. The purpose of this fast growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden … nuclear weapons,” Trump said at the start of a ceremony to present the Medal of Honor — America’s highest military decoration — to a trio of Army soldiers.

“An Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people. Our country itself would be under threat, and it was very nearly under threat.”

It was Trump’s first public comments since American and Israeli warplanes began what he’d described as “major combat operations” in a video posted to social media in the wee hours of Saturday.

His brief remarks appeared an effort in justifying his decision to unilaterally send American forces into battle without Congressional authorization, claiming the Iranian nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs would have presented “a very clear, colossal threat to America.”

The president claimed the attacks were necessary despite the lack of an imminent threat to the U.S. because it was the “last best chance to strike … and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime.”

He added that American forces were “destroying Iran’s missile capabilities” on an “hourly basis” and crippling Iran’s navy while “ensuring” that Tehran “cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders” in the future.

Earlier Monday, Trump told CNN in a phone interview that U.S. forces were “knocking the c**p” out of Iran and opined that the war was “going very well” thus far.

Urging Iranian citizens to stay inside, Trump also boasted that “we haven’t even started hitting them hard”, warning: “The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”

He told the New York Post in a separate phone interview that he wasn’t categorically ruling out sending American ground forces into Iran — a move that would potentially invite pushback from Congress and a backlash from parts of his MAGA Republican base who have thus far supported his foreign military actions because it has not required the U.S. troops being deployed on foreign soil.

“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump told the Post.

Trump later added to the Post that he did “the right thing” and suggested that polling shows support for his decision to attack Iran. But public polling released since the joint American-Israeli operation began on Saturday by Reuters/Ipsos found only 27 per cent of Americans approve of the strikes compared with 43 per cent who said they disapproved and 29 per cent who said they weren’t sure.

Four American service members have lost their lives since combat operations began Saturday, with several others wounded.

No American warplanes have been downed by Iranian air defenses thus far, but several F-15 Strike Eagle aircraft were shot down accidentally by Kuwaiti surface-to-air missiles Monday with the pilots ejecting to safety.

At the East Room ceremony to honor the Medal of Honor recipients, Trump said he grieved America’s latest four war dead and was sending “love and support to their families” while vowing to continue the fight in their names.

“In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people,” he said.

Trump added that the U.S. was already “substantially ahead of our time projections” for the potential length of the conflict and predicted that it could be over in “four to five weeks” while vowing to continue it longer if needed.