Trump says he may 'annihilate' Iran and cites naval blockade preventing ships reaching Iran
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- Trump says he has a 'big decision' coming up on Iran: 'Do I want to go in and annihilate them?' - New York Post
- US President Donald Trump told Axios he "has a big decision coming up" on whether to "annihilate" Iran.
- Trump said "not one ship" has reached Iran since the start of the US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Trump told Axios he is in direct contact with the regime and claimed it "still wants to make a deal."
- Trump said he "may" meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Netanyahu's visit to New York.
- Trump said he will meet leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman to "find out where they are and how they are doing."
- Trump said "Anything could happen with me," when describing the decision he faces.
US President Donald Trump told Axios he is weighing whether to “annihilate” Iran and openly framed the choice in stark terms: “Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not?” Trump also said, in the same interview, that Iran has been in direct contact with the United States and that Tehran seeks a deal.
The comments combine an explicit threat of major military action with acknowledgement of diplomatic engagement, signaling simultaneous pressure and bargaining in Washington.
The White House has not released a full transcript in the source cited, and Trump’s remarks were reported by middleeasteye.net quoting his Axios interview; those outlets present the president’s phrasing as the core record. Iran’s government did not appear in the single source provided to repudiate or confirm the characterization that it is seeking a deal.
Analysts and capitals tracking US-Iran ties will read the juxtaposition — public talk of annihilation alongside reported contact and a desire for a deal — as a high-risk mix that could either compel concessions or provoke escalation.
Why this matters now: the president framed both extreme force and negotiation as live options in the same breath, a posture that compresses diplomatic space and raises the odds that a misstep, miscommunication, or third-party action could produce rapid escalation.
The sourcing here is narrow: the account rests on Trump’s quoted interview remarks as reported by middleeasteye.net; no additional outlets or Iranian statements are included in this packet to corroborate Tehran’s intent or the mechanics of the reported contacts.
Left- and right-leaning outlets are covering this story differently — in which facts to emphasize, which context to include, and how to frame causes and consequences.