Trump says he wants "real end" to Iran's nuclear program, not just an Iran-Israel ceasefire

CBS News

5 hours ago

President Trump said early Tuesday morning that he wants "a real end" to Iran's nuclear problem, with Tehran "giving up entirely" its enrichment activities. He said he was not just working toward a ceasefire to end the war between Iran and Israel, which has claimed at least two dozen lives in Israel and hundreds in Iran as it enters its fifth day.
"I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire," Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One after cutting short his time at the G7 summit in Canada.
Earlier, the president said on his Truth Social platform that French President Emmanuel Macron had "mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a 'cease fire' between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that."
Mr. Trump predicted that Israel would not slow its assault on Iran, which has largely decapitated the Islamic republic's military command and inflicted significant damage to its controversial nuclear program.
"You're going to find out over the next two days. You're going to find out. Nobody's slowed up so far," he said, hours after issuing an ominous warning that all of Tehran's roughly 10 million inhabitants should "immediately evacuate."
Asked about that warning on Air Force One early Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he wanted "people to be safe," without offering any further explanation. Israel on Monday warned about 300,000 residents in a central district of Tehran to evacuate, pending attacks in the area.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on a building used by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, part of Iran's state TV broadcaster, June 16, 2025 in Tehran, Iran.
Getty Images
Mr. Trump suggested the reason he didn't want to stay in Canada was because he couldn't confidentially monitor developments in the Middle East. He said he could be "more well versed" in the White House Situation Room and avoid cellphones. "I don't believe in telephones — because people like you listen to them," he told reporters on the plane. "Being on the scene is much better."
A source with knowledge of the talks told CBS News on Monday that Tehran had indicated to negotiators in Qatar and Oman that it was prepared to discuss a new deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, but not while it was still under Israeli attack.
The president said it was possible he could send special envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance, or both, to meet with Iranian negotiators, but "it depends what happens when I get back" to Washington.
"I don't know," Mr. Trump added. "I'm not too much in the mood to negotiate."
Addressing any possible threat to U.S. interests in the region, Mr. Trump said Iran knew not to target U.S. forces, as the U.S. would "come down so hard if they do anything to our people."
President Trump alights from Air Force One after arriving at Joint Base Andrews, early on June 17, 2025, in Maryland.
Al Drago/Getty
The president declined to say whether Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Lt. Gen. Dan Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had provided him with options in the event Iran does attack U.S. bases in the Middle East.
"I can't tell you that," he said.
Asked if it would take U.S. involvement to destroy Iran's nuclear program, Mr. Trump said he hoped it would be "wiped out long before that."
Trump says Iran was "very close" to obtaining a nuclear weapon
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the attack he ordered on Iran late last week as an "existential" battle for Israel's survival. He claimed intelligence — which Israel has not shared publicly — showed the country was "racing" toward the development of a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu, along with all recent U.S. presidents including Mr. Trump, have always said they could not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Just several months ago, however, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard delivered an assessment to lawmakers that said U.S. agencies continued "to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003."
Gabbard said the U.S. was continuing to "monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program," and she noted that "in the past year, we've seen an erosion of a decades long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus."
Asked on Air Force One about that assessment from Gabbard, that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon, Mr. Trump told reporters: "I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having them."
Israel expands assault on Iran
Israel expanded its aerial assault on Iran Monday, hitting not only nuclear and military facilities and assassinating senior military leaders, but targeting the regime-controlled media. Iranian State TV's sprawling headquarters in Tehran came under attack as the network was broadcasting.
CBS News' Seyed Bathaei in Tehran said the network remained on the air, but that one part of its compound was on fire Monday evening.
Smoke rises from an Iranian state media building in Tehran after an Israeli airstrike on June 16, 2025.
NIKAN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty
Asked about the strike on Tuesday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said the network "was used to spread anti-Israeli propaganda and called for genocide for several decades. We attacked it just as we attack all components of the Iranian terrorist regime and the plan to destroy Israel."
In a clear show of domination over its long-time archrival, Israel also said Tuesday that it had killed the Iranian military's chief of staff, just four days after his predecessor was killed in Israel's first round of strikes.
"Following precise intelligence received by the Intelligence Branch, we eliminated Ali Shadamnai, the Chief of Staff of the War, the most senior military commander of the Iranian regime. He was eliminated at the Iranian regime's headquarters in the heart of Tehran. Shadamnai was the Chief of Staff of the Iranian regime's armed forces and the man closest to Iran's leader Khamenei. He was appointed to replace the previous Chief of Staff, whom we also thwarted in the opening blow of the operation."
The attacks have sent thousands of Iranians racing to try to evacuate major cities. A massive explosion in the city of Isfahan was caught on someone's dashcam over the weekend as the passengers tried to flee.
"We can't leave. What else can we do," the car's anxious occupants can be heard saying.
The human cost of the war is escalating on both sides. Iranian officials haven't provided an update since Sunday, when they said at least 220 people had been killed. They did not give a breakdown but said many civilians were among the casualties
In Israel, Netanyahu said Monday that at least 24 people had been killed by Iranian missiles that managed to evade the country's robust air defenses.
The attacks continued Monday evening and into Tuesday morning, with Defrin saying Iran had launched 30 missiles, most of them intercepted, "but several hits were identified."
He did not report any new casualties, but warned Israelis: "We must not be complacent, the Iranians still have intentions and the ability to strike."
People look at a crater in the ground in the aftermath of a reported missile strike by Iran, June 17, 2025 in Herzliya, Israel.
Amir Levy/Getty
On Monday, an Iranian missile slammed into an apartment building in the central Israel city of Peta Tikva, killing four people.
Israeli American Lihi Griner was there, with her husband and three children, hiding in their safe room.
"It was the biggest boom ever," she told CBS News. "Even our safe room was shaking."
When the family emerged, they found shattered glass strewn across their apartment.
Given Mr. Trump's warnings and Netanyahu's stated determination to remove what he considers the multi-faceted threat posed by the Iranian regime, CBS News asked Griner if she was prepared for the war with Iran to get worse before it gets better.
"I'm not prepared," she said. "I'm just gonna go and run in my little, you know, bomb shelter. I'm not prepared for everything. I wasn't prepared for this."