Trump Now Claims Iran Has Already Been Denuclearized
Sandego.net – President Donald Trump has declared that Iran is effectively denuclearized, raising questions about the purpose of the ongoing war. During a NATO gathering in Turkey on Wednesday, he addressed concerns that the campaign might have reached a strategic impasse. The president firmly rejected this notion, insisting that the primary objective has already been accomplished. This bold assertion arrives as he seeks to distance himself from a costly and increasingly unpopular military engagement.
“I was there for one reason: that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I call it, we denuclearize Iran,” Trump stated. “And that’s happened; they will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Underground Assets and Monitoring Capabilities
The president argued that Iranian nuclear assets are now buried deep beneath the earth, rendering them virtually inaccessible to any adversary. He emphasized that American surveillance systems can monitor these critical sites continuously, ensuring that no unauthorized access occurs. By highlighting these monitoring capabilities, Trump suggested that the physical location of the materials is sufficient to guarantee security without further intervention.
“We’ve already got the nuclear material, because it’s so far underground,” he explained. “Nobody’s going to be able to get it except us. They can’t get it.”
This narrative presents a significant challenge to the original rationale for the conflict. When hostilities commenced in February, officials pointed to an impending nuclear danger as the primary justification for military action. However, Trump had previously maintained that the Iranian program was destroyed during strikes in June 2025. Just fourteen days prior to the outbreak of fighting, the president insisted that previous operations had eliminated any potential for Iran to develop atomic weapons. Now, after more than four months of combat and substantial economic impact globally, he suggests those earlier efforts were sufficient.
The administration had established several objectives, including securing a lasting agreement and retrieving physical nuclear components. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described obtaining these materials as a critical “red line” only six weeks ago. Yet, Trump now implies this step might not be essential since the materials remain hidden and monitored. Perhaps the bigger point is that these comments raise serious questions about whether the war was launched under false pretenses. The initial justifications were already complicated by the repeated claims that the program was “obliterated” long before the current fighting began.
Beyond nuclear concerns, the initial threats in January focused on altering the Iranian government. Trump has confusingly suggested this goal is also met due to the elimination of specific leaders, even though such actions do not necessarily constitute a full regime shift. The administration has issued a constantly shifting set of four goals throughout the conflict. His latest claims that Iran has suddenly been denuclearized forevermore are difficult to reconcile with the timeline of events.
It is certainly possible that strikes during this war have made the nuclear materials even more difficult to access. But by far the biggest strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites came back in June 2025, when Trump first claimed its nuclear program had been “obliterated.” And the major military actions in this war ended three months ago, when the first ceasefire was announced on April 7. If Iran’s nuclear materials are now so buried that its program is basically done-for and a deal isn’t necessary, why wasn’t that the case three months ago?
Why did the administration spend all this time pursuing a nuclear deal and say it still needed to get the materials? Why not just keep hitting the nuclear sites to further bury the materials, if that’s good enough? It makes no sense. It all points to a far less justifiable possibility for why Trump is making these arguments now: that he has lost patience with this war and recognizes a good deal is probably not going to happen. He appears to be laying the groundwork for possibly throwing in the towel in Iran without achieving his major objectives.
