Trump Says Iran Developing Missiles That Could Hit US

President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening said that Iran is developing missiles that can reach the United States and indicated Tehran is attempting to reboot its nuclear program.

“We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again. And they’re at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump said during his State of the Union address in Congress.

“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”

The president said that while he would prefer to solve the Iran issue through diplomacy, he would not allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

He indicated that the United States could strike Iran if it did not give up efforts to build nuclear weapons or long-range missiles, saying that Tehran has “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

“They were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular nuclear weapons,” he added.

Officials in the United States, Israel, and Europe have long believed that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence. Iran, however, has long maintained its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required to make a bomb.

Iranian officials on Wednesday responded to Trump’s comments to Congress, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei writing on X that there were “big lies” contained in the president’s speech.

“Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies.’ No one should be fooled by these prominent untruths,” he wrote in a post.

Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohamad Bagher Ghalibaf insisted that Iran is not moving to manufacture nuclear weapons, according to state-run media outlet IRNA. He also said that Iran would reserve its options if Tehran and Washington don’t reach an agreement during the talks.

The two countries resumed negotiations over the long-disputed nuclear program earlier this month as the United States builds up its military capability in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes on the country. Iran has threatened to strike U.S. bases in the region if it is attacked. Trump on Feb. 19 said he was giving Tehran about 10 to 15 days to make a deal.

Last summer, Israel and the United States launched a number of strikes targeting Iran that the Trump administration said dismantled the country’s nuclear sites. Iran also launched missiles and explosive drones at Israel and U.S. assets in the region.

Multiple senators, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have publicly said in recent days that the Trump administration should strike Iran. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Cruz said the U.S. military is likely to launch “limited” strikes against Iran in a “matter of days,” adding that he’s urged Trump to arm anti-regime protesters.

Reuters contributed to this report.