In primetime address, Trump cites nuclear threat as polls show most Americans disapprove of Iran war

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Amid polls showing most Americans disapprove of U.S. military action in Iran, President Donald Trump said in an April 1 address to the nation, “we are going to finish the job. And we’re going to finish it very fast.”

Pope Leo XIV is among the world leaders who have urged Trump to end the conflict.

The president’s primetime address from the White House marked his first such speech since the combat operation in Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other key Iranian political and military officials. He argued the regime presented grave threats, pointing to “the specter of nuclear blackmail.”

“Regime change was not our goal,” Trump said. “We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ deaths. They’re all dead.”

Trump’s address came as polls show that throughout the first month of the conflict — dubbed Operation Epic Fury — most U.S. adults oppose the conflict.

But Trump argued the action was “a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future.”

“They were the bully of the Middle East, but they’re the bully no longer,” Trump argued.

Trump administration officials — and the president himself — have offered conflicting messages about the objectives of the operation. But Trump stressed in his address that “from the very first day I announced my campaign for president in 2015, I have vowed that I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

“My first preference was always the path of diplomacy. Yet the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected every attempt at an agreement,” Trump said.

Pointing to the June military action in Iran, Operation Midnight Hammer, that attacked three nuclear facilities in Iran, Trump said, “For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, but in the end, those are just words if you’re not willing to take action when the time comes.”

Trump’s address came the day after Pope Leo told reporters at Castel Gandolfo ?that he urged world leaders, particularly Trump, to de-escalate violence in the Middle East.

“I was told that President Trump had recently stated that he would like to end the war,” Pope Leo told journalists March 31. “Hopefully he’s looking for an off-ramp. Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and is increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, echoed the pontiff’s remarks in a statement April 1.

“During this holiest of weeks, let us continue to pray ardently for mutually respectful and effective dialogue that leads to a ceasefire and a negotiated end to the conflict with Iran,” he said.

Elsewhere in his comments, Trump commended NASA for the successful launch of the Artemis II mission, which took place earlier the same evening.

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