Uhhh Guys, the President’s Fantasizing About Wiping Out Iran Again

It’s been barely three months since Trump initially attacked Iran with the help of Israel—killing the country’s authoritarian supreme leader of 37 years, as well as a school full of children—and it’s getting pretty fucking hard to keep track of the number of times the administration has openly fantasized about wiping out the rest of the country.

In March, Secretary of War Defense Pete Hegseth told 60 Minutes that “the only ones who need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live”; in April, Trump posted to Truth Social that “ A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,”; and in one of his mandatory prayer sessions, Hegseth actively prayed for an “overwhelming violence of action” in the war. On Wednesday, Trump added to this list of running Hague-destined threats, promising that if Iran is unable to agree on a deal to end the war, Hegseth is “going to finish them off.” 

Trump says that if Iran doesn’t make concessions, “then the man on my left [Hegseth] is gonna finish them off”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 27, 2026 at 1:05 PM

I mean… yikes! Trump made the comments in a televised Cabinet meeting, the 12th of Trump’s second term, and was responding to a reporter who asked him to estimate a “yard line” for a deal with Iran, in terms of football jargon. And, well, if the journalistic aim was to give the president an opportunity to talk about talks with the country without day-dreaming of annihilating it, the efforts were in vain. 

“They are starting to give us the things that they have to give us, and if they do, that’s great,” Trump responded. “If they won’t, then the man on my left is going to finish ’em off,” nodding to Hegseth on his immediate left. 

Trump had also opened the meeting by saying there were “great people” present, slapping Hegseth’s biceps as he said, “The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Central Casting. He loves war.”

Trump during the meeting also said that he doesn’t “care about the midterms,” (ahem) saying that while Iran thought they were going to “outweigh” him, they were proven wrong because of Tuesday’s primaries. “Look what happened last night,” Trump said. “That was the prelude to the midterms. People understand it. They know that very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” 

The U.S. struck its initial ceasefire deal in April, though this “ceasefire” has neither done much to change things, stop the fighting, or shift the control of the Strait of Hormuz. The countries are apparently in active talks of negotiating a full deal to end the war, and according to two sources based in Tehran that spoke to MS Now, the two have agreed on some kind of framework. The White House, however, has since denied that such a framework actually exists. 

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