In an escalation of one of the most fraught foreign‑policy standoffs of his second presidency to date, Donald Trump has directly addressed the stand-off with Iran. Speaking at his first State of the Union from Washington since being re-elected, Trump said "our enemies are scared...and America is respected like never before" prior to adding that "for decades it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons."

Continuing "since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism, and death and hate", Trump also spoke proudly of taking out Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officer Qasem Soleimani during his first term to great applause from Republicans in attendance, while Democratic political figures not boycotting the speech sat silently.

The soon-to-be 80-year-old Trump then moved on to condemning Iranian authorities for "killing at least 32,000 protestors" in recent uprisings across Iran saying "they shot them and hung them" before taking credit to some extent for an end to the killings by stating "we stopped them from hanging a lot of them with the threat of serious violence."

Calling the regime "terrible people", the US president also made the claim that will be studied closely across the Middle East today, that Iran is "working to build missiles that will reach the United States" before hinting at another highly anticipated strike, saying that "after (Operation) Midnight Hammer (on June 22, 2025), they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons programme, in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue. They are starting it all over. We wiped it out and they want to start all over again."

Winding down his comments on Iran with a slightly more positive note after another standing ovation, Trump went on to say "We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words 'we will never have a nuclear weapon.' My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain. I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon."

The president’s comments at the State of the Union come against a backdrop of mounting military pressure. The United States has deployed overwhelming air and naval assets to the region including two aircraft carrier battle groups led by the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford, as well as beefing up its presence at allied bases in Europe.

In Geneva meanwhile, indirect negotiations continue between US and Iranian envoys with Tehran’s foreign ministry having supposedly expressed a willingness to take all necessary steps to secure a deal that would lift sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear activities, but substantive gaps remain.