Trump claims Iran has “virtually given up” nuclear ambitions as war enters eighth month

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran has effectively abandoned any pursuit of nuclear weapons, repeating one of his administration’s central stated goals for the war with Tehran as the conflict stretches into its eighth month.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Ohio, Trump said oil prices are currently falling and now sit lower than they were under the previous administration, which he argued had done nothing to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. He then added that Iran has virtually given up any plans for a nuclear weapon, without citing specific evidence for the claim.

Iran has consistently denied American and Israeli accusations that it seeks nuclear weapons, a position President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated during his visit to New York last month for the United Nations General Assembly. Pezeshkian said Tehran’s opposition to nuclear weapons stems from religious prohibition rather than external pressure, and he offered to dilute Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles under international verification. Iran has maintained, however, that it will not compromise on its civilian nuclear program or accept structural changes to it unless Washington first lifts economic sanctions.

Trump’s remarks came alongside a cluster of other developments reflecting the conflict’s continued breadth. Iran’s army announced plans to begin training civilian volunteers under a new national defence programme, according to regional reporting, and has already opened a military training centre for ordinary citizens in Tehran as part of that effort. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said separately that Washington’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains ironclad, warning that Trump retains unspecified options should Iran continue what Hegseth described as playing games with the strategic waterway.

The US Navy also rotated personnel out of the conflict zone for rest over the weekend, with the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush arriving off Phuket, Thailand, on Sunday carrying roughly 4,800 personnel following months supporting American operations in the Middle East from the Arabian Sea. The carrier is expected to remain anchored offshore through October 9 while crew rotate ashore, following a similar five day visit by the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to Laem Chabang last month that brought roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines into the country. Thailand remains Washington’s only treaty ally in mainland Southeast Asia.

Trump’s claim about Iran’s nuclear program arrives alongside continuing instability elsewhere tied to the broader conflict, including a Houthi strike on an oil facility near Riyadh reported the same day and ongoing fighting across multiple fronts in the region. With Washington maintaining its naval blockade and Tehran continuing to reject nuclear concessions without sanctions relief, Trump’s assertion that Iran has abandoned its nuclear ambitions remains unverified and stands in tension with Iran’s own public position, which continues to tie any change in its nuclear posture directly to the lifting of US sanctions rather than to unilateral abandonment of the program.