In an interview with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Fox News' “My View,” aired May 30, 2026, President Trump said, “We shouldn't have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability,” a rare suggestion from the president that the war he launched was a mistake.
The admission sat alongside contradictory claims. In the same interview Trump asserted that Iran's “navy is gone, 100%” and its “air force is gone, 100%,” while also saying the U.S. had “sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate.” He argued that without the U.S. B-2 bomber strikes nine months earlier, Iran would have built nuclear weapons.
The White House had cited an imminent nuclear threat as one of its justifications for the war. At a March 18, 2026 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Jon Ossoff asked Trump's Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, whether that was the intelligence community's assessment. She did not answer yes or no. She said Iran “maintained the intention to rebuild,” but that “the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president.”
Her written testimony did say Iran had made “no efforts” to rebuild its enrichment capability after the June 2025 strikes, and when Ossoff asked whether that was the intelligence community's assessment, she answered, “Yes” (see Trump's Own Intelligence Director Refuses to Say Iran Was an 'Imminent Threat,' Then Confirms Iran Wasn't Rebuilding Its Enrichment Program). The statement that Iran “posed no imminent threat” came from Joe Kent, who resigned as Trump's counterterrorism director over the war on March 17 (see Trump's Own Counterterrorism Chief Joe Kent Resigns Over Iran, Saying the War 'Serves No Benefit to the American People').
Iran's Health Ministry has reported 3,468 deaths since the war began on February 28, 2026. The remark adds to a documented record of shifting and contradictory explanations for a war the administration has struggled to justify (see In the Iran War's First Days, Trump and His Top Aides Gave Conflicting Reasons for Starting It).