Trump: U.S. Strength Maintains Max Pressure on Iran

This morning on Fox & Friends, President Donald J. Trump delivered a clear, uncompromising update on U.S. operations against Iran. President Trump detailed total naval control of the Strait of Hormuz, unmatched U.S. intelligence and strike readiness, and a firm strategy that keeps maximum pressure on the Iranian regime while leaving the door open to a deal that serves American interests.

• President Trump underscored Iran's bad-faith tactics in negotiations: "For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion and they'll come out and say, 'We're not talking' or 'we didn't discuss nuclear.' Well, that's all we discussed because they'll never have a nuclear weapon. They understand that." (Watch)
• President Trump confirmed U.S. intelligence and readiness to act on Pickaxe Mountain: "Because of Space Force, we have the greatest cameras in the world focused - we know exactly what's going on. But no, I heard Bibi announce that. I said, 'Why don't you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?' I know exactly what's going on at Pickaxe. It's not a big problem. We took out their nuclear sites and we'll have to take out Pickaxe if we don't make a deal. If we don't make a deal, we'll take it out very easily." (Watch)
• President Trump addressed different perspectives while affirming his clear strategy: "You have a lot of competing factions. You have a group of people that want it to be obliterated in the truest sense of the word, then you have a group that says, 'This is actually a good time to make a deal for them. If they don't make a deal, then I go back and I finish the job' - but that's going to take them forever to rebuild. Already, it'll take them many years to ever to rebuild." (Watch)
• President Trump detailed America's overwhelming capacity to dismantle Iranian infrastructure if necessary: "I could take out most of their bridges in less than an hour - less than an hour - but it takes them ten years to build a bridge. Bridges take the longest and power plants are second. I can knock out the power plants; within one day, all of their power plants would be gone… I think about 91 million people without power, without bridges - they have to live - and it's a very, very delicate balance. So, I think we have a very strong position right now. They know I'm going to do that if they don't make a deal… If I can avoid doing that, I'd like to do that." (Watch)
• President Trump contrasted decades of prior inaction with his decisive leadership: "For 50 years, other Presidents should have done this job and they never did anything. Obama actually paid them billions of dollars - the opposite! He thought he could bribe his way into friendship and they went out and tried to develop nuclear missiles and nuclear weapons from it… For 50 years, other Presidents should have done this job. It would have been a lot easier." (Watch)
• President Trump asserted total U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz: "We have a blockade up there right now, and only ships that we want to get through get through. Iran doesn't control the Strait. We control the Strait. Now, they can drop a couple of mines in there and screw things up, but we control the Strait. Our Navy is incredible; not one ship has gotten to Iran during any time where we had the blockade." (Watch)
• President Trump emphasized the blockade's effectiveness and zero tolerance for broken deals: "We have a blockade that's so powerful that nobody can get through. They tried, three or four of them tried over the last week. But we opened the blockade because we had the confines of a deal… then we put it back because they broke the deal. They break the deal. We cannot have them break deals anymore." (Watch)