Trump tells nation Iran war 'nearing completion,' says will hit 'extremely hard' in coming weeks

'They're the bully no longer'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, April 01, 2026

President Donald Trump claimed during a primetime address to the nation Wednesday night that the war in Iran has significantly weakened the regime and that the objectives of the conflict are "nearing completion," but threatened to reduce Iran to "the Stone Ages" in the coming weeks.

Speaking from the Cross Hall of the White House for his first formal speech about the conflict since it began more than a month ago, Trump touted what he described as an unprecedented military success while predicting an end to hostilities "very, very shortly."

He warned of further aggressive military action if the present Iranian leadership does not agree to a deal.

"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," he said.

"Tonight, Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them, the terrorist regime they led, are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak."

Noting their "ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed," Trump said Iran's weapons factories and rocket launchers are also "being blown to pieces."

"Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating, large-scale losses in a matter of weeks," he said, going on to add that the U.S. "is winning now bigger than ever before."

After claiming the U.S. has achieved energy independence from the Middle East after allying with Venezuela, Trump said U.S. involvement in the joint conflict with Israel is because "we're there to help our allies," and placed the threat from Iran in historical context.

"This fanatical regime has been chanting, 'death to America, death to Israel,' for 47 years," he said, mentioning Iranian involvement in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, the many U.S. service members killed by roadside bombs, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel and "countless other heinous acts."

He noted how the regime "also recently killed 45,000 of their own people who were protesting in Iran."

"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."

"This situation has been going on for 47 years, and should have been handled long before I arrived in office," he said, going on to single out former President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, which he called "a disaster."

"Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash — green, green cash — took it out of banks from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, all the cash they had, 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."

"Essentially, I did what no other president was willing to do. They made mistakes, and I am correcting them," said Trump, who went on to claim the preferable path of a diplomatic solution ultimately proved hopeless, especially after Iran allegedly attempted to restart their nuclear program after the U.S. destroyed their other facilities last June.

"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," he said. "They were right at the doorstep."

"For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, but in the end, those are just words if you're not willing to take action when the time comes."

Trump conceded that oil prices are rising and that financial markets remain volatile, but promised such effects will be temporary.

"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," he said. "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."

Trump said discussions remain ongoing, and that while regime change was never the goal of the conflict, regime change has effectively occurred, leading to leadership that he said 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."

Claiming "we have all the cards, they have none," Trump urged Americans to keep the month-long conflict in perspective, noting that many U.S.-involved wars dragged out for years.

"We are in this military operation so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for 32 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."

Trump concluded by claiming the U.S. is "on the cusp of ending Iran's sinister threat to America and the world."