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President Trump: Diplomacy Was First Preference Before Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Program

April 2, 2026 · The White House · 0:01:00

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Trump said his first preference was always the path of diplomacy, but that the Iranian regime continued what he called its relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected every attempt at an agreement, according to the White House clip. For that reason, he said, in June he ordered a strike on Iran’s key nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer, carried out by B-2 bombers, which he said totally obliterated the nuclear sites, as stated in his remarks.

Trump said the regime then sought to rebuild its nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear, in his characterization, that it had no intention of abandoning its pursuit of nuclear weapons, according to the clip. He also said Iran was rapidly building a vast stockpile of conventional ballistic missiles and would soon have had missiles able to reach the American homeland, Europe and virtually any other place on Earth, as stated in his remarks.

Why it matters

The one-minute clip is the White House’s condensed justification for the Iran strikes — diplomacy offered and rejected, a destroyed program being rebuilt, and a missile threat approaching intercontinental range.

Sources: The White House, “OPERATION EPIC FURY 🇺🇸 President Trump’s preference was always the path of diplomacy”, 2026-04-02 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-04-02). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.