In primetime address, president hails ‘overwhelming victories,’ pays tribute to fallen troops and warns of further strikes if no agreement reached
President Donald Trump declared on Wednesday evening that the United States military has delivered “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories” in its month-long campaign against Iran, asserting that core objectives of Operation Epic Fury are nearing completion and that the Iranian regime’s military capabilities have been largely dismantled.
In a primetime address to the nation from the White House on April 1, 2026, Trump first congratulated NASA and the crew of the Artemis II mission, which launched the previous day on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crewed flight aboard the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft is set to travel further than any previous manned mission, passing beyond the Moon on a free-return trajectory before returning to Earth.
He then turned to foreign policy, providing an update on Operation Epic Fury, which the United States military launched approximately one month earlier against what he described as “the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, Iran.”
“As we speak this evening, it’s been just one month since the United States military began Operation Epic Fury targeting the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, Iran,” Trump said. He claimed that in the past four weeks, U.S. forces had destroyed Iran’s navy, left its air force in ruins, killed many of its top leaders, decimated command structures of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, curtailed missile and drone capabilities, and destroyed weapons factories and rocket launchers.
“Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses,” the president stated, adding that America was “winning and now winning bigger than ever before” under his leadership.
Trump also referenced a rapid U.S. military action in Venezuela earlier, describing it as completed “in a matter of minutes” and leading to a partnership on oil and gas production with the country holding the second-largest reserves on Earth after the United States. He emphasized that America had achieved energy independence, producing more oil and gas than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined.
The president framed Operation Epic Fury as essential to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He cited the regime’s 47 years of chanting “death to America, death to Israel,” its support for terrorism, including the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing, attacks on U.S. service members, the USS Cole incident, and the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, and the reported killing of approximately 45,000 Iranians during domestic protests.
Trump recalled actions from his first term, including the 2020 killing of General Qasem Soleimani and the withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama, which he called a “disaster.” He also referenced a June strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, carried out by B-2 bombers.
The stated objectives of Operation Epic Fury include systematically dismantling Iran’s ability to threaten the United States or project power beyond its borders by eliminating its navy, air force, missile program, and defense industrial base, while denying it the capacity to build a nuclear weapon or support terrorist proxies.
Trump reported that these objectives were “nearing completion” after 32 days of operations. He paid tribute to 13 American service members who lost their lives in the campaign, noting that he had twice visited Dover Air Force Base to receive their remains and that their families had urged him to “finish the job.”
The president thanked regional allies including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain. He acknowledged short-term rises in U.S. gasoline prices, attributing them to Iranian attacks on commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries, but expressed confidence that prices would fall once the conflict ended and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz normalized. He stressed America’s minimal reliance on oil from the strait due to domestic production and supplies from Venezuela.
Trump indicated that regime change was not an initial goal but had effectively occurred due to the deaths of many original Iranian leaders, leaving a new group he described as “less radical and much more reasonable.” He warned that if no agreement is reached in ongoing discussions, U.S. forces would target electric generating plants and retained the option to strike oil facilities, though they had so far refrained to allow for potential rebuilding.
“We have all the cards. They have none,” Trump said, emphasizing U.S. military superiority, including the complete destruction of Iranian radar and anti-aircraft systems. He contrasted the 32-day operation with the much longer durations of previous U.S. conflicts such as World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.
The address concluded with an optimistic outlook: “Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of Iranian aggression and the spectre of nuclear blackmail… The United States will be safer, stronger, more prosperous, and greater than it has ever been before.”
The speech marks the first major primetime address by President Trump on the Iran conflict, which began in late February 2026. Independent verification of the full extent of damage to Iranian forces continues amid the fog of war, though multiple reports confirm intense U.S. and allied strikes and significant Iranian leadership and military losses.
International reactions remain mixed, with concerns raised about escalation, civilian impacts, and regional stability, even as some allies support efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and influence.