President Donald Trump held a White House press conference on Monday to address the ongoing Iran war, which has endured for over a month without an obvious end in sight. Rather than provide insights on the situation, however, Trump’s comments failed to offer a clear path forward while also insulting American allies and former President Joe Biden.
Trump uses slur against Biden, attacks American allies and praises Kim Jong Un
In perhaps the most bizarre part of Trump’s press conference, the president ripped American allies for not contributing more to the war effort against Iran while also praising North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and using an ableist slur against Biden. Trump complained that a number of U.S. allies “didn’t help us” in Iran, calling out NATO, Australia, Japan and South Korea by name. He complained particularly about Japan and South Korea, pointing out that tens of thousands of American soldiers are stationed in each country to protect them against North Korea. Trump then touted how much Kim Jong Un “likes Trump,” while claiming that the North Korean dictator “used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person.” Trump has previously used similar ableist slurs, including in a Thanksgiving Day 2025 post about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Trump again threatens Iran while calling for a deal
While other parts of Trump’s press conference focused more directly on Iran, the substance of his comments consisted of doubling down on threats against the country without giving definitive answers for what a deal to end the war might look like. Elaborating on threats he made in a belligerent Easter Day social media post, Trump again threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants if no deal has been reached by Tuesday evening. “Every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again,” the U.S. president said. “I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to — we don’t want that to happen.”
The president did not make it clear if a deal with Iran would require the country to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important waterway for transporting oil, which Iran has essentially closed since the outbreak of the war. “We want free traffic of oil and everything,” Trump said at one point regarding a potential deal, while also suggesting a system by which the U.S. would charge tolls to use the strait. “We have a concept where we’ll charge tolls,” Trump said, without specifying if this meant the U.S. would somehow gain control of the strait.
Praising military rescue mission, threatening reporter over downed plane story
Trump also used the press conference to highlight the successful military operation to rescue a U.S. Air Force colonel whose plane was shot down in Iran. Without giving specific details about the operation, which, according to Trump involved “hundreds” of people, he said that the rescue mission played out like a movie. “You would call it central casting if you were doing a movie for location,” Trump said of the undisclosed area in Iran where the mission took place. While celebrating the rescue of the colonel, Trump also expressed anger that someone within his administration leaked the story of a servicemember being shot down in Iran. The president threatened the reporter who broke the story, saying, “The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say” who in the administration provided the information.
Overall, Trump’s press conference was full of strange comments and worrisome threats but light on details concerning when and how the war with Iran will end. As the conflict stretches into its second month and as Trump’s comments cause some to question his fitness for office, the president did little to alleviate fears about what he might do as the war continues.
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