WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAID

 This comparison between what President Trump first said publicly about his goals for the war with Iran and what he is saying now is beyond alarming as well as a national embarrassment.

It’s almost as if he has been secretly injected with a virulent self-sabotaging serum for which there is no antidote. 

The man is on a romp of fantasy. What else does the mendacious, brutal, murderous, genocidal Islamic supremacist regime in Tehran have to do to convince the president that it must be eliminated?

Will this realization come during the regime's 48th. year of tormenting its own people and threatening western civilization with annihilation or will he, Vance, Kushner and the hopelessly incompetent Witkoff continue to treat us as if we possessed the kind of imbecile credulity that would make an African witch doctor positively green with envy?

Before the talks that are supposed to occur during the next 60 days the president and his team should remember the first line from the recipe for pigeon pie: "First, kill the pigeon."

                     ****************************************************

Trump's goals for the Iran war and what he's saying now:

By Zak Hudak,    Natalie McCormick, Maria Sullivan, Gabriella Biello

Updated on: June 18, 2026 / 8:40 PM EDT / CBS News

Add CBS News on Google

Washington — Hours after the U.S. launched its war against Iran in late February, President Trump laid out an aggressive list of war aims. He pledged to "destroy their missiles," prevent the regime from rebuilding its nuclear program and set the stage for Iranians to "take over" the country's government.

A week into the conflict, he wrote on Truth Social: "There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"

Now, as the Trump administration touts a newly signed memorandum of understanding to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and jumpstart nuclear talks, the president has backed off some of those ambitions. 

Mr. Trump told reporters this week it's "OK" for Iran to keep some of its ballistic missiles. He said he isn't in a hurry to recover Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and isn't vying for "regime change" in Iran. The memorandum of understanding also leaves most specifics on the fate of Iran's nuclear program to be determined in additional negotiations over the next 60 days.

The president also shared some praise for Iran's current leadership.

"We're dealing with people that I think are very rational people, and they were nice to deal with," Mr. Trump said of Iran's current leadership during an event at the G7 summit in France on Tuesday, noting that some prior Iranian leaders were killed during the war. "They were strong people, smart people. … They're not radicalized and they're looking to help their country." 

Here's what the president and top administration officials have said about key issues related to Iran, then and now:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-goals-iran-war-and-what-hes-saying-now-nuclear-missiles-regime-change/