On Sunday, President Trump spoke with host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, and as is his usual style, the president didn’t mince words. During that conversation, President Trump made some very direct statements about Iran’s apparent attitudes towards the American demands from the recently concluded talks in Pakistan.
On Iran’s military capabilities, the president pointed out that they have very little left, but that their attitude doesn’t appear to reflect that.
.@POTUS on the Iranians: “They came in like they had the cards, but they don’t have the cards. Their army and their whole military is obliterated. The whole place is obliterated.” pic.twitter.com/6nonjAOnqx
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 12, 2026
Well, they reacted. You know, it was very interesting. It started off weak and they were… they came in like they had the cards, but they don’t have the cards. Their army and their whole military is obliterated. The whole place is obliterated.
And you know, as you know, the levels of leaders are gone. They’re literally gone. Qom’s gone. All things gone. The whole place is gone.
They have one thing that they can do. They could say, well gee, we’re going to put a mine someplace in the…. just a mine will drop. One mine, two mines, ten mines. And that will, if you have a ship that costs a billion dollars, you say, ‘Well, I prefer not getting whacked by a mine, losing my ship or damaging it badly at least.’ So that’s a little bit of the thing they could do.
That’s a key point. Ships are expensive, and the companies that own them are loathe to place them and their crews at risk in uncertain waters. Now the United States Navy has already begun operations to clear the Strait of Hormuz, and there’s very little Iran can do to stop that effort.
It is military might and military power don’t do it. But you know it’s extortion. And they’re extorting the world. We don’t get our oil from there. We have so much… One thing you said I don’t know if anybody heard, well, but we have boats pouring up to the United States. They’ll be filling them up and they’ll be leaving. They’re gonna be packed with the best oil you can get, light sweet crude. They’re going to get one of the best oils that you can get.
But, so, that’s interesting and it’s great because we have a lot of oil. We’ll don’t get any, I mean literally last year was 1%. We did that as a favor, we don’t need the Strait, but other countries do, but I will tell you, while we’re on the subject, I’m very disappointed with NATO, very, very disappointed that they didn’t come. Now they want to come, now they want to help with the Strait, and it won’t take long. Clean out. So we can clean out the strait and they’ll be able to use the strait in not too long a distance.
But we had very a intensive negotiation. And toward the end it got friendly and we have just about every point we need except for the fact that they refuse to give up their nuclear ambition. And that’s the only point frankly to me that was the most important point by far.
That has been the president’s sticking point all along, with good reason: If Iran were able to build a nuclear weapon, there is little doubt they would use it.
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President Trump also spoke more on the nuclear ambitions of Iran:
.@POTUS: “We didn’t get there on the important issue. They want to have nuclear weapons. They’re not going to have nuclear weapons.” pic.twitter.com/9qgVwm8VGi
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 12, 2026
The president said:
Well, we’re going to be blockading. It’ll take a little while but it will be effective pretty soon and we had meetings yesterday, they, as you said, lasted 21 hours. That was a long meeting with some very, very good representatives, as you know, JD & Steve & Jared. So we were well represented. But we didn’t get there on the important issue. They wanna have nuclear weapons. They are not gonna have nuclear weapons. I’ve been saying that for 30 years. I would never allow that to happen before I was in politics. And that country will not have nuclear weapons. Most countries shouldn’t be allowed, but that country will not have nuclear weapons.
So, the lines President Trump has drawn are very clear. Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s not new information. That is what President Trump has said all along, that is what the negotiators in Pakistan faltered on, and it’s plain as day that now Iran may be facing yet more punishment at the hands of the American and Israeli armed forces.
This thing ain’t over yet.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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