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'We shouldn't have been in Iran': Trump's major admission ahead of peace deal to end war

'We shouldn't have been in Iran': Trump's major admission ahead of peace deal to end war

US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)

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Trump said the US “shouldn’t have been in Iran” or Iraq, calling past interventions mistakes while defending military action against Tehran. He claimed US strikes prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and said Washington deliberately spared parts of Iran's military.

US President Donald Trump has said the United States “shouldn’t have been in Iran” or Iraq, while defending past military action against Tehran. Trump criticised the Iraq war and said that US did very bad. The US president praised his administration's action on Iran in 2025, and criticised the US war on Iraq by previous administration. The US said American forces shouldn’t have been in Baghdad or in Iran. “You look at what happened with Iraq. We did so bad. It was such a foolish thing what we did. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place, by the way,” Trump said.

“We shouldn’t have been in Iran, but Iran has the capability,” he continued. “If we didn’t hit them with B-2 bombers, nine months ago, they would have a nuclear weapon right now and will be a whole different story. You probably wouldn’t have had Israel, but you probably wouldn’t have had a Middle East, and then where do they go from there?”

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Trump also claimed the US has deliberately spared the Iranian military. “Their military, we sort of left it alone because we think that their military is somewhat moderate. They have other people that aren’t moderate. We’ve taken them. We’ve taken different forms of leadership out. We’ve actually left their military alone,” he said. Trump added that “people would be surprised to hear that because mistakes have been made in wars where you wipe out everybody and then you have a country that’s, you know, for 40 years can never rebuild”.

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Meanwhile, Trump also said that Iran has agreed not only to refrain from developing nuclear weapons but also from acquiring them through any means, describing the commitment as a significant shift in the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Speaking to reporters, Trump said securing a guarantee that Iran would not possess nuclear weapons remained his top priority and suggested that a broader agreement could pave the way for the immediate reopening of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.

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Navashree Nandini

Navashree Nandini works as a senior sub-editor and has over five years of experience. She writes about global conflicts ranging from India and its neighbourhood to West Asia to the...Read More

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