US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tilted heavily on domestic issues, but he also made the case for his foreign policy efforts to Americans who are increasingly uneasy about his priorities, vowing to “never hesitate” in confronting threats against the United States or let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.

The president cheered brokering a fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza and his team’s bringing home hostages taken by Hamas terrorists, striking Iranian nuclear sites last June, capturing autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and pressing fellow NATO members to increase defense spending among his biggest wins.

At a moment when polls show the American public increasingly concerned about the economy, Trump’s assignment Tuesday evening also was to cut through thickening skepticism that he’s staying true to his “America First” philosophy after a year in which his focus was often far from home. It’s a wariness shared by some who once counted themselves among Trump’s closest allies.

But Trump made the case that he’s taking the right approach balancing domestic policy concerns while using America’s military might when needed. He made no mention of China — Washington’s primary military and economic rival — and only briefly referred to Russia.

“As president, I will make peace wherever I can — but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must,” Trump said.

Hours before the State of the Union, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a briefing on Iran for Congress’ “Gang of Eight” — comprised of the leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives and the two chambers’ intelligence committees.

“First and foremost, if they want to do something in Iran – and who the hell knows what it is – they should make it public and discuss it with the public and not keep it in secret. When you do these military operations in secret, it always causes longer wars, tragedy, more expenses and mistake(s),” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told a press conference, shortly before the classified session.

The ‘secret words’ for a nuclear deal

Trump’s speech came as he weighs whether to carry out new military action on Iran. He last week warned Iran that “bad things will happen” soon if a deal is not reached over its nuclear program.

The pathway to a deal seems murky, as the authoritarian clerics who rule Iran say they will only discuss the nuclear issue. The US and Israel also want to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional armed proxies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Gaza-ruling Hamas and the Houthi rebels of Yemen.

Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet again Thursday in Geneva with Iranian officials as US warships and fighter jets mass in the Middle East. His spokeswoman posted a picture of Trump with his Iran negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shortly before the speech.

Trump explained to Americans during the State of the Union why he’s pondering military action, just eight months after he claimed that US strikes had “obliterated” three critical Iranian nuclear facilities and left “the bully of the Middle East” with no choice but to make peace.

“Since they seized control of that proud country 47 years ago, the regime and its proxies have done nothing but spread terrorism and death and hate,” Trump said.

“We took out [Qassem] Soleimani… it had a huge impact,” the US president boasted, referring to the top Iranian military commander killed in a 2020 strike in Baghdad.

Turning to the recent anti-regime demonstrations in Iran, which the Islamic Republic brutally repressed, Trump said that “just over the last couple of months with the protests, it looks they killed at least 32,000 protesters,” calling Iranian leaders “terrible people.”

According to Trump, the Iranians “are working to build missiles that can reach the United States of America.”

In 2025, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said Iran could potentially develop a militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035 “should Tehran decide to pursue the capability,” but did not say if it had made such a decision.

Tehran currently possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges that top out at about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), according to the US Congressional Research Service.

The continental United States is more than 6,000 miles from Iran’s western tip.

Trump said that after the US strikes last year, his administration warned Tehran “to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particularly nuclear weapons, but they continue.”

“We wiped it out but they want to start all over again and at this moment are pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump declared. “They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”

Trump said that his preference was to reach a diplomatic resolution with Iran, but stated that “one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror — which they are by far — to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.”

“No nation should ever doubt America’s resolve. We have the most powerful military on earth,” he said.

‘We got all them back’

Trump asserted during his State of the Union address that he “ended eight wars” since coming to office, including the fighting between Israel and Iran last year that preceded the US strikes “and of course the war in Gaza, which proceeds at a very low level — it’s just about there.”

He thanked Witkoff, Kushner and Rubio — who were in the crowd — for their roles in helping broker the truce deal that took force in October, ending two years of devastating war started by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of ISrael.

“Under the ceasefire I negotiated, every hostage — both living and dead — has been returned home, can you believe that?” Trump said. “I said those last 20 are going to be tough, but we got them back.”

Noting Hamas did not return all the slain hostages along with the last living captives, Trump said, “believe it or not, Hamas worked along with Israel, and they dug, and they dug, and they dug — it’s a tough thing to do, going through bodies all over… tough job.”

“They found all 28, no one thought that was possible, but we did it.”

Referring to the family of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last dead hostage to be returned from the Gaza Strip, Trump said that “they were so grieved, but they were so happy, they were as happy as possible to be. They had their boy back. The mother said, ‘sir, we have our boy back.’”

“What a period of time that was, but we got them all back,” the US president added.

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1 Trump said frustrated with limits of military leverage against Iran

2 ‘Complete game-changer’: Iran close to buying supersonic anti‑ship missiles from China

3 AnalysisDecisive hours: Progress on a new nuclear deal, or countdown to a US strike?

4 F-22 jets deploy at Israeli Air Force base as US builds up forces for Iran strike

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6 Footage from 2022 shows Hamas commanders overseeing dry run of October 7 attack

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