President Donald Trump went after Iran in his first major speech in Saudi Arabia, warning that Tehran must choose between never having a nuclear weapon or dealing with his wrath.
“If Iran’s leadership rejects the olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure,” Trump said during an address to business leaders in Riyadh.
“The choice is theirs to make,” he added.
President Donald Trump speaks during the Saudi-U.S. investment forum at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)
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Though Trump said he wants to make a deal with Iran and see Tehran prosper, his comments came after he first went after the Iranian regime and accused it of not only deteriorating its own nation, but the region at large.
“Iran’s leaders have focused on stealing their people’s wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad. Most tragic of all, they have dragged down an entire region with them,” Trump said.
The president pointed to the “countless lives lost” in Iran’s effort to prop up the former Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria – which collapsed in December – and accused its support of Hezbollah for the downfall of Beirut, which he said was “once called the Paris of the Middle East.”
“Can you imagine all of this misery and so much more was entirely avoidable, absolutely avoidable,” Trump said.
President Donald J. Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meet at the Saudi Royal Court on May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Trump asserted the Biden administration’s removal of some sanctions on Tehran as the chief method in how Iran financed terrorist organizations, including Hamas, which he argued led to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for President Joe Biden for comment on Trump’s claims.
“If only the Iranian regime had focused on building their nation up instead of tearing the region down,” Trump continued. “Yet I’m here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran’s leaders, but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future.
“In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies,” he said. “Enemies get you motivated.
U.S Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff shakes hands with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi in Muscat, Oman, April 12, 2025. (Oman News Agency/ Handout via Reuters)
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“In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past,” Trump pointed out.
It is unclear how Trump’s negative comments toward Tehran could impact ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.
The Iranian representative to the U.N. Mission in New York did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.