Lunatics cannot have nuclear weapon, Trump says

Iran is scrambling for ways to respond to a US naval blockade that has disrupted its oil exports and exposed weaknesses in its long-standing strategy of relying on maritime disruption and sanctions evasion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report cited analysts as saying the blockade is testing Tehran’s long-standing strategy of leveraging disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and evading sanctions through covert oil shipments.

The report said the pressure is fueling internal divisions within Iran’s leadership, with some officials pushing for renewed escalation while others favor negotiations to end the standoff.

US President Donald Trump defended his administration’s approach toward Iran on Friday, saying past presidents failed to act and claiming the United States had severely weakened Tehran through recent actions.

“But, you know, with all of this, and I say it again, we had to do this little excursion, because if we didn’t, if they had a nuclear weapon, this world would be a horror. It would be a world that would live in fear. And it should have been done for 47 years by other presidents and other countries, frankly, but it wasn’t. They were all afraid of Iran. It is a very strong country. It was a very strong country. We’ve blown the hell out of them, if you want to know the truth," Trump said.

The Trump administration added a new member to its Iran negotiating team amid stalled talks with Tehran, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

Nick Stewart, managing director of advocacy at FDD Action, the lobbying arm of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joined the office of Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff, US officials and sources said.

Stewart previously served in the first Trump administration as chief of staff at the State Department’s Iran Action Group under then-Special Representative Brian Hook.

US Representative Claudia Tenney said Nick Stewart is an “outstanding addition” to the Office of the Special Envoy for Peace Missions, describing him as one of America’s “sharpest experts on Iran policy” in a post on X.

President Donald Trump said on Friday Cuba would be next for the United States but he will finish Iran first and then change the focus.

"Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one. First, I like to finish a job. On the way back from Iran — what we’ll do on the way back from Iran — we’ll have one of our big, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the world. We’ll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, thank you very much, we give up," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump warned that Iran “cannot be allowed” to obtain a nuclear weapon, saying it could be used against Israel, Europe, and eventually the United States, during remarks in Florida on Friday.

"We have we've taken them apart. We take you there. Air Force is non existent. It's gone. Their navy, that a very strong navy. They're the strongest Navy by far in the Middle East. Many times over. They have 159 ships. Every single ship is at the bottom of the sea right now. They have no anti aircraft capacity. They have no radar," Trump said.

"They have no leaders. Actually, their leaders are all gone too. It's part of our problem. We don't know who the hell we're dealing with. This is this is Mohammed Owens, and I say, Are you a leader? We're looking for a leader. The only country in the world. No Nobody wants to be a leader. They say, Would anybody like to be president? And there are no takers," he added.