US President Donald Trump has said the Middle East is “very lucky” he is currently in the White House as the United States and Israel continue military operations against Iran.
Speaking at the Republican Issues Conference on Monday, Trump argued that American action had already delivered significant results in confronting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The president said the United States had “already won in many ways” in Iran, but added that the outcome would only be complete once the regime is no longer capable of pursuing nuclear weapons.
A reporter later asked Trump to clarify what he meant by saying the US had not yet “won enough”.
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“What do you consider enough? What’s your baseline?” the reporter asked.
“Where they’re not going to be starting the following day to develop a nuclear weapon,” Trump replied. “Where they’ll look at that man and some other people from the administration and say, ‘All right, we’re not going to do it.’ They were not willing to say that. And when Steve called up and he said that to me, I said, ‘Well, here we go. Let’s do it the hard way.’”
Trump appeared to be referring to Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East.
Trump Argues Strong Action Needed To Stop Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
Trump said decisive action was necessary to ensure Iran cannot develop weapons that could threaten the United States, Israel or other allies in the region.
“But the hard way, I think, is probably the easy way,” he said. “When basically I can see that they will no longer have any capacity whatsoever for a very long period of time of developing weaponry that could be used against the United States, Israel or any of our allies.”
The president added that several American allies in the Middle East had initially stayed out of the conflict until they were targeted.
“We have great allies in the Middle East, great countries that are allies. And they were staying out of it until they got hit.”
Trump also said Iran posed a growing threat to regional stability, claiming Tehran was preparing to strike US partners before American forces acted.
Operation Midnight Hammer Targeted Iranian Nuclear Facilities
During the exchange, Trump pointed to Operation Midnight Hammer, a US military strike carried out on June 22, 2025 targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.
“Now, had Operation Midnight Hammer not taken place? That was definite, because they would have had a nuclear weapon within a matter of weeks,” he said.
“But that took place. That was a setback. But look at the number of missiles they were able to buy and make over the last six months. And those missiles were aimed at various countries.”
The operation was presented by the administration as a move to disrupt Iran’s nuclear development and counter threats to US allies across the region.
Trump Says Middle Eastern Nations ‘Very Lucky’ He Is President
Concluding his remarks, Trump contrasted his leadership with that of his predecessor while discussing the regional situation.
“And when you look at a thousand — over a thousand missiles shot at, like, UAE — they were looking to take over the Middle East,” he said. “We got there first. We’re lucky.”
“I’ll tell you what, the Middle East and those countries, very rich countries, are very lucky that I was president instead of somebody else.”
The military confrontation began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure and nuclear-related facilities.
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