Donald Trump blasted Tehran’s “sinister” nuclear ambitions in his State of the Union address and laid out Washington’s justification for possible US military action against the Islamic Republic.
The US President, speaking before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, accused Iran of rebuilding its nuclear weapons program.
Amid a massive build-up of US naval and air power in the Middle East, Trump said the US is in talks with Iran but Tehran is not giving up its nuclear ambitions and continues to threaten the US.
Trump said, “They have already developed missiles that can threaten our bases in Europe and abroad, and they are working on developing missiles that will soon reach the United States.”
His comments came during the second half of a nearly two-hour campaign-style speech to Congress — the longest in modern history — during which he staunchly defended his economic and immigration policies as he sought to reenergize his right-wing base ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The president said Iran had failed to heed warnings to make “no future efforts” to rebuild its nuclear weapons programs following US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities last June.
“We wiped it out and they want to do it again,” Trump said, adding that Iran was “right now, again, pursuing its sinister ambitions.”
Trump’s comments on Iran come just two days before crucial talks in Geneva on Thursday between US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and senior Iranian officials that could determine whether the White House will launch a new attack on the Islamic republic.
Before Trump’s speech, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed congressional leaders and top lawmakers on the Iran crisis. Democrats who emerged from the meeting urged the White House to better explain the rationale for potential US intervention.
Trump also used Tuesday’s address to reinforce his economic message as lawmakers prepare for the midterm election campaign.
The President claimed that inflation is “falling” and incomes are “rising rapidly”, despite official data showing that price pressures remain above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.
“The emerging economy is roaring like never before,” Trump said.
He also attacked critics, including Democrats, who have condemned the administration for failing to address the high cost of living while claiming to be a champion of “affordability.”
He said, “They knew their statements were a dirty rotten lie. Their policies created high prices. Our policies are rapidly destroying them.”
But Democrats condemned the president’s message on inflation as irrelevant.
Virginia Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger, who delivered the rebuttal speech, said: “Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night – problems that decide where you live, whether you can afford to start a business or whether you have to skip a prescription to buy groceries.”
Facing four Supreme Court justices in the audience, Trump hit back against the court’s ruling late last week that his use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners was illegal.
At midnight on Tuesday, before the speech, Trump imposed a 10 percent global levy based on a separate statute, doubling his signature economic policy, even though polls show US voters are skeptical of tariffs.
“Countries that have been cheating us for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said. “I believe that tariffs paid by foreign countries, as in the past, will substantially replace the modern system of income taxation, and remove a great financial burden from the people I love.”
Trump at times clashed with Democrats in the audience as he described the country as ravaged by high crime and illegal immigration, which he argues justifies sweeping federal action in many American cities.
Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib repeatedly shouted at the president, saying he has killed Americans.
Trump said, “These people are crazy. I’m telling you they’re crazy… The Democrats are destroying our country, but we stopped it just in time.” He said Democrats should be “ashamed” of themselves.
At one point, he called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would ban members of Congress and their families from stock trading.
He took a dig at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the wealthiest members of Congress, whose husband has come under scrutiny for his stock trades.
“Did Nancy Pelosi stand, if she’s here?” Trump said this after some lawmakers gave him a standing ovation for his remarks.
“It’s doubtful,” the president said, even as Pelosi stood up.
The speech was attended by the U.S. men’s hockey team, which won the Olympic gold medal on Sunday. Also in the audience was Erica Kirk – the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed last September – who looked emotional as she sat with the president’s family.
Trump called on the US to reject “political violence”. Pointing to the Christian conservative Republican base, he credited Charlie Kirk for leading a “tremendous renewal” of faith among young people.
“We love religion and…it’s coming back,” he said.
Reporting by James Politi, Lauren Feder, Steph Chavez, Abigail Hauslohner, Stefania Palma, Claire Jones, Amy MacKinnon and Miles McCormick.
