Trump: Three-Month Iran Campaign Prevented Nuclear Weapon, Rules Out Endless War

President Donald Trump said he never promised there would be no wars if elected. The comments came during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker that aired Sunday on Meet the Press. The interview was taped Friday in a barn at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before a roundtable with farmers.

Trump said the war with Iran that began February 28 “is not an endless war.” “I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war. We’ve been doing this for three months,” he said. He added that the U.S. action was “doing the world a service” and “doing our country a service” by stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

U.S. strikes last year obliterated Iranian nuclear sites, Trump said in the interview. He defended his first-term withdrawal from the nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama, noting that such agreements take years to negotiate.

Trump arrived aboard Air Force One from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Friday. Heavy rain on the metal roof repeatedly interrupted the taping. Trump ended the interview by saying “Let’s call it quits,” removing his microphone and walking away.

Welker said she spoke with Trump on Saturday and he agreed the rain had caused complications and that he would do another interview in the future. Trump repeated claims without evidence that Democrats are rigging California’s vote count from Tuesday’s primary. Late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots have reduced margins for his preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor.

The Trump-appointed top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday that the office had opened multiple election fraud investigations. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday the Department of Justice was abandoning a planned 776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that had been part of a settlement over the leak of Trump’s tax returns. A judge had paused the plan.

Trump said he thought the fund was “a great idea” and that he would be “disappointed” if it were not approved. He granted a sweeping pardon on his first day back in office in January 2025 to more than 1,500 people prosecuted over the January 6 events.