President Trump delivered a Wednesday evening update on Operation Epic Fury, declaring that the “core objectives” of the campaign are “near completion” after one month of military action. He praised the U.S. military for delivering what he described as swift and overwhelming blows to the Iranian regime. The address also touched on rising oil and gas prices, which Trump directly attributed to the conflict.
As detailed by UNILAD, Trump opened the speech by praising NASA for the successful Artemis II launch before turning to the war. He restated his long-held position that Iran must not be permitted any access to nuclear capabilities, a message he has maintained since his 2015 campaign. He pointed to Iran’s history of chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” and cited historical acts of terror, including the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, the killing of hundreds of U.S. servicemembers with roadside bombs, and the attack on the USS Cole.
Trump also referenced the seizure of Venezuela as a precedent for decisive military action, and credited himself with killing General Qasem Soleimani during his first term and terminating Barack Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal. He framed his first preference as diplomacy, but said the regime’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and rejection of every agreement led to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June strike on Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
The deal on offer comes with a threat attached to it
Trump said a resolution could be “two to three weeks” away, while simultaneously warning that the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard” over that same period. He claimed the military has “decimated” Iran’s core infrastructure, with its navy described as “GONE,” its air force “in ruins,” and its command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps being systematically dismantled. Weapons factories and rocket launchers, he said, have been “blown to pieces.”
On the prospect of a deal, Trump said he had not set out to trigger regime change but that it “coincidentally” occurred after the U.S. killed the country’s previous leaders in a targeted bomb strike. He described the new Iranian leadership as more “moderate” and “progressive,” and said he hopes to secure an agreement with them. His stated condition, however, was blunt: “If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard.” He added, “We have all the cards, and they have none.”
Trump squarely blamed Iran for the current surge in U.S. energy prices, amid broader regional economic damage the war has produced, including UAE stock markets losing over $120 billion in value since the conflict began. He insisted the U.S. does not need oil imported through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the country now holds the largest oil and gas reserves on the planet. He told other nations struggling for fuel to either buy American oil or go to the Strait themselves, adding: “Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done.”
Defending his decision to go to war, Trump blamed all sitting presidents from Ronald Reagan onwards for failing to act over 47 years, with congressional scrutiny of those decisions now set to intensify when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces the House Armed Services Committee in April. Trump described Iran as a “murderous regime” that “should have been handled long before I arrived in office.” He stated that he did what no previous president was willing to do.
In his closing remarks, Trump acknowledged the 13 American service members killed during the operation and stated the mission must be completed to honor their sacrifice. He asserted that the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are to dismantle Iran’s ability to threaten America or project power beyond its borders, and said the U.S. is “on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world.”
Published: Apr 2, 2026 09:30 am