Last week, on May 5, 2026, President Trump told a group of young children in the Oval Office that“we have to make a journey down to Iran to take the nuclear weapon.They would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks.”
Trump also told the children,“Iran with a nuclear weapon…maybe we wouldn’t all be here right now… I can tell you, the Middle East would have been gone. Israel would have been gone. And they would have trained their sights on Europe, first, and then us.”
According to the White House website, Trump warned Iran against having nuclear weaponson 74 occasions prior to the war. Since the war began on February 28, 2026, Trump has discussed Iranian nuclear issues inat least 20 documented public appearances, based on the Senate Democrats’ Trump transcript archive andRoll Call’s Factbasetranscript database.
Some of Trump’s more pointed claims:
About six weeks into the current war, on April 16, 2026, Trump said Iran“would have had a nuclear weapon within one month”if the U.S. had not used B-2 bombers to strike Iranian civilian nuclear energy facilities during the June 2025 war on Iran.
About one month after the war began, Trump said on March 27, 2026,“the Iranian lunatics refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons”after the June 2025 war.
And on February 24, 2026, just four days before starting the current war in Iran, Trump said that Iran was“warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, and in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue.They’re starting it all over…”.
Trump’s statements go beyond saying ‘Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.’ He has repeatedly claimed that Iran was weeks away from having one, that U.S. strikes stopped Iran from obtaining one, and that Iran was trying to rebuild or continue a nuclear weapons program.
But Trump’s claims are not supported by the record. In fact, official statements from U.S. intelligence, the State Department, the IAEA, and others state that Irandoes nothave a nuclear weapon,is notcurrently building one, anddoes notseek to build one.
US Intelligence, Government Agencies & Figures
Source: Antiwar.com
