Featured Image Credit: (Roberto Schmidt/Stringer/Getty Images)
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran
Ben Williams
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran
Donald Trump has once again managed to turn an already volatile international crisis into something even more unsettling, with his latest remarks on Iran landing like a fresh warning shot at a time when tensions are already running dangerously high.
With the war dragging on and every public statement now being picked apart for clues about what happens next, attention has been fixed on whether the US president thinks the fighting is close to ending or whether a far more damaging phase is still ahead.
For days, Trump has been signalling that the conflict may not last much longer. However, it was only in his latest comments that he paired that confidence with some of his harshest rhetoric yet, giving the clearest indication so far of the kind of escalation he says could still be on the table.
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Speaking this week, Trump said the US could ‘finish the job’ in Iran within ‘two or three weeks’, and suggested that timeline could hold whether or not a deal is agreed between Washington and Tehran.
He also made clear that he is not treating negotiations as essential at this stage, saying there ‘could be a deal’ but adding: “it doesn't matter if they come to the table or not” as reported by the BBC.
Trump then doubled down on how much damage he believes has already been done, claiming: “We've set them back 15-20 years. They have no navy, no military, no air force.”
In a separate national address, also covered by the BBC, he pushed the threat even further, saying the US would hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ over the coming weeks and warning: “We are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong” which has since been widely shared over social media platforms like Reddit.
The remarks came as fighting continued across the region, with strikes reported overnight and concerns growing over how much longer the conflict could drag on in practice, despite Trump’s insistence that it may soon be nearing its end.
Iran, however, has not responded as though the war is about to quietly wind down. According to the latest reports, Tehran warned of ‘crushing, broader and destructive’ attacks, while a spokesperson for Iran’s military said the US and Israel had only been hitting “insignificant” targets and did not fully understand the country’s capabilities.
At the same time, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian, reportedly said Tehran has the ‘necessary will’ to end the war, but only if certain conditions are met, including guarantees ‘required to prevent repetition of the aggression’.
In early 2025, Trump was asked during an interview with the New York Post if he had plans to kick Prince Harry out of the US amid ongoing questions about his immigration status.
"I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife," he said. "She’s terrible."
Ahead of a 2025 meeting in the Oval Office, the Ukrainian president wore a black, long-sleeved polo shirt featuring the Ukrainian trident - after which he'd vowed not to wear a suit until Russia's invasion of his country would come to an end.
Trump jokily said as he greeted Zelenskyy: "Oh look, you’re all dressed up."
When the US was involved in that dispute over Greenland, as Trump wanted the land to be America’s, he claimed that Denmark didn't have the 'right' to the country.
Well, it's clear Trump didn't realize that Greenland is a self-governing, autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has been part of Denmark for 600 years.
Again in 2025, Trump - who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign - said paper straws 'don't work' and 'disgustingly' dissolve when being used.
"These things don’t work," he said. "I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode."
During his address to Congress in March 2025, Trump accused the Biden administration of spending $8 million on 'transgender mice' experiments.
PBS later fact-checked this and concluded that this claim was false, with PBS News Hour's White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López saying 'the idea that scientists are making mice transgender is false'.
"These experiments were studying the effects of gender-affirming hormones on asthma and on whether gender-affirming hormones increase breast cancer risk," Barrón-López explained.
On his first day in office for his second term of presidency in January 2025, Trump infamously signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America to honor 'American greatness'.
It's important to note that the change applies only to US federal communications and maps.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump wildly called for 'one real rough, nasty' and 'violent day' of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime 'immediately' - which many drew comparisons to the thriller film The Purge.
"One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately," Trump said to the crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Another moment during his 2024 election campaign saw Trump take aim at his opponent, former vice president Kamala Harris.
He told his supporters: "We have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you, you’re a s**t vice president. The worst."