World
Trump claims ‘spoiled child’ Iran has agreed to most US demands in negotiations
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he thinks Iran has “agreed to just about everything we need” in negotiations over a final accord between the two countries.
Trump made the claim in a wide-ranging CNBC interview, in which he discussed, among other things, various aspects of the war with Iran and ongoing negotiations on a final deal with the Islamic Republic.
Asked during the interview whether the war, which began with a shock US-Israeli offensive on February 28 before being halted by a temporary ceasefire on April 8, was at risk of turning into one of the so-called “forever wars” that he pledged to avoid, Trump denied that there was any chance of that happening.
“I think they’ve agreed to just about everything we need,” Trump said of Iran’s conduct in negotiations over a final accord between the two countries.
Trump on Iran:
We totally defeated them militarily. They have some missiles left. We could wipe them out too.
I think they’ve agreed to just about everything we need. pic.twitter.com/fgJyfhoVBt
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 2, 2026
Last month, after weeks of negotiations, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and undertake 60 days of negotiations on a final deal covering Iran’s nuclear program. Israel was not a party to the deal and is not involved in the resulting negotiations, but its fight with Iran has also paused.
It was unclear what Trump was suggesting Iran had agreed to, given that talks on the final deal haven’t really begun yet due to disagreements over the vital Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran blocked early in the war, rocking the global economy.
“We’re negotiating, and we’ll see,” Trump said.
The president also asserted that “this is not a war per se. This is the denuking of Iran.”
“You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Iran, he said, is “a spoiled child” and the “bully of the Middle East.”
“You’ve had your way for many years with your parents, and all of a sudden they come down hard on you, it takes you a little while to get used to it,” he said. “They’ve had their way for 47 years.”
Trump claimed, as he has previously, that killing Iran’s leaders had led to more “rational” figures taking control, insisting that this met the definition of “regime change.”
“We’re on the third set of leaders, and we actually get along with them,” he said, referring to strikes that killed the predecessors to Iran’s current leadership. “I think they’re much more rational. By the way, I think that’s regime change, but I’m not looking for regime change. I’m looking for something very simple. They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
At the start of the war, Trump indicated that regime change was a goal, but he has since insisted that this was never a priority.
The president also pointed out that the Iran war was much shorter than other conflicts that involved the US, and claimed that the Afghanistan war lasted “like 10 years,” though it in fact lasted some 20 years, including for the duration of his first term in office.
He said that he had managed to “defeat [Iran] militarily,” even though Tehran has “some missiles left.”
Trump suggested the US could wipe those out as well, despite having previously suggested that it would be “unfair” if Iran couldn’t keep some of its ballistic missiles.
“They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no radar, their leaders are all dead,” he said. “Their strength is gone, their bravado is gone.”
Trump also said that the conflict with Iran, along with a US blockade of Iranian ports to prevent it from exporting oil, had placed economic pressure on the country.
“They have 300% inflation, they’re making no money,” he said.
At the same time, he claimed, the US Navy managed to slip ships past Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, including 22 vessels in just one night.
“Every night, we were taking ships out through the South, which is the furthest point from where they have their little weapons, and they were going along the coast with no lights for a month and a half; a lot of ships came out,” Trump said.
Trump has previously touted Iran’s pledge in the MOU not to obtain a nuclear weapon, even though it made the same commitment in the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by then-US president Barack Obama, which Trump ridiculed and pulled out of in 2018. Limiting Iran’s missile development was not included in the 2015 deal, and Tehran ramped up its uranium enrichment in the years after Trump pulled the US out of the agreement.
He has also previously claimed that Iran has agreed to allow the US to extract the country’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium — something the Islamic Republic has denied and is one of the main sticking points in talks between the sides.
Against the backdrop of the Iran nuclear issue, Trump compared his approach to the nuclear deal forged by former US president Barack Obama in 2015, and again questioned why most US Jews vote for Democratic candidates, claiming he has been the friendliest US president to Israel.
“They got a lot of nuclear research, and a lot of weapons, and a lot of missiles, and an enemy,” he said of the outcome from Obama’s handling of Iran. “They actually went on the other side, and how a Jewish person can vote for a Democrat is beyond me.”
“Because I’ve been the best president in the history of Israel, and they acknowledge — and by the way, in Israel I think I was at 99% or something,” he continued.
Trump has historically polled well among Israelis, though his approval has tanked in Israel since he signed the MOU with Iran that has sparked grave concern among Israeli officials, and that some observers have said is worse for Israel’s security than the 2015 deal. A poll published last month by the Israel Democracy Institute found that only 44% of Israelis think Israel’s security is one of Trump’s main considerations.
In his first term and especially during his 2024 campaign for president, Trump repeatedly questioned why most American Jews have historically voted for Democrats. In 2024, he took to saying that Jews who voted Democrat “should have their head examined.”
Exit polls showed that in 2016, 2020, and 2024, most American Jews voted for the Democratic presidential nominee over Trump. A poll in April of American Jews found that only 22% approve of his performance as president.
Meanwhile, in a post to social media, Trump again questioned US membership in NATO less than a week before the transatlantic alliance’s summit in Ankara.
He said it is “ridiculous” for the United States to continue its “one-sided” relationship with NATO.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!!”
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at European allies over their response to the war in Iran and has repeatedly questioned US funding for NATO.
The post included a graph showing that the US contributes far more to the alliance than any other country.
