Trump Addresses Iran Campaign in First Public Remarks

President Donald Trump publicly addressed the ongoing U.S.-led military campaign in Iran for the first time on Tuesday, acknowledging during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the conflict's worst outcome could leave the country under a regime as repressive as the current one. The exchange occurred as reporters questioned the president days after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian targets on Saturday.

Trump's comments came in response to a direct query about contingency planning for the war, which he described as necessary to preempt attacks on Iran's neighbors and Israel. "We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack," Trump said, dismissing suggestions that Israel had influenced the decision. Instead, he claimed the U.S. actions may have prompted Israel to join more decisively.

The president outlined his primary concern not as immediate battlefield setbacks but as the potential political fallout. "I guess the worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person," Trump stated. "That could happen. We don't want that to...