Trump Says He May ‘Destroy the Rest’ of Iran as War Decision Nears

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he may have to “destroy the rest” of Iran, escalating the threat of renewed all-out bombing only hours after reviewing war options with his national-security team. “I would rather not destroy the rest of the country, if possible, but maybe I’ll have to. And you’ll know soon enough,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The statement transformed a policy review into an open warning against an entire country. Trump said the question before him was whether to “go further” and ensure that Iran’s nuclear program “will never happen again.” He did not announce a new military order, a timetable or a defined target.

The threat came after Qatar transmitted a proposal designed to move the United States and Iran toward de-escalation. Axios reported that the plan would trade steps by Washington — including easing the naval blockade and releasing some frozen Iranian funds — for renewed nuclear inspections and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump claimed Iran was “not doing anything without our approval,” a boast that Tehran has not publicly accepted.

U.S. Central Command is finalizing preparations for a possible return to major combat operations, according to Axios, but it has not received a new directive from Washington. That distinction matters. Military preparation raises the pressure; it does not prove that Trump has decided to strike.

Regional governments pushed diplomacy as the White House deliberated. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with counterparts or mediators from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Egypt. The breadth of those calls shows how many states expect another bombing campaign to spill across borders, energy routes and civilian economies.

Photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meets diplomats in Tehran, January 12, 2026. Foad Ashtari / Mehr News Agency, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, also met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Rezaei said Iran had set seven conditions for diplomacy and would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz or begin negotiations until Washington met them. Those are Iranian claims and negotiating positions, not settled terms.

Trump issued the threat two days after voters delivered Congress to the Democrats in midterm elections shaped partly by the eight-month Iran war. The Associated Press reported that the conflict has already caused tens of billions of dollars in regional damage and increased fuel and transport costs far beyond the battlefield.

The election did not produce a single-issue verdict, but it stripped away any claim of broad public consent for escalation. About six in ten voters told the AP Voter Poll that the United States made the wrong decision by taking military action against Iran. Roughly one-third called the war crucial to their congressional vote, while cost-of-living concerns ranked higher.

That combination — political defeat at home and a threat of greater destruction abroad — sharpens the constitutional stakes. A president cannot turn an unpopular, open-ended war into a personal test of resolve. Congress now has both the authority and the public mandate to demand defined objectives, civilian-harm estimates, legal justification and a vote before any new offensive.

Iran retains agency, sovereignty and legitimate security concerns. It also faces obligations under nuclear safeguards and international law. Negotiations must distinguish those questions from collective punishment. Threatening to destroy more of the country collapses that distinction and treats civilian infrastructure as leverage.

Another large U.S. attack could also widen the Red Sea conflict, destabilize Gulf shipping and drive energy prices higher. The administration has not shown that additional bombing would produce inspections, a durable ceasefire or regional security more effectively than the proposal already moving through mediators.

Trump told reporters the world would know his decision soon. Until then, the verified facts are narrower than the rhetoric: the White House reviewed options, the military prepared contingencies, Iran and regional states intensified diplomacy, and no new strike order was publicly confirmed. The danger lies in how quickly that gap can close.

Sources: Axios · Associated Press · Anadolu Agency