CAMP DAVID, United States: US President Donald Trump has vowed to intensify military action against Iran, declaring that American forces would continue striking Iranian targets “hard” as the conflict enters a new phase.
Speaking to reporters during a cabinet meeting at Camp David, Trump also claimed the campaign has severely weakened Iran’s military capabilities and crippled much of its manufacturing capacity.
Trump on Iran:
We will be hitting them very hard. At some point, they are going to say, “We just can’t take it anymore.” pic.twitter.com/oIMQfLn9Rs
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 31, 2026
Asked about the chances of reviving the ceasefire after days of exchanging strikes with Iran, US President Donald Trump replied, “We just want to win.”
He reiterated that the US is “doing well” with regard to Iran, that their military has been degraded and that Tehran can never possess a nuclear weapon.
.@POTUS on Iran: “We just want to win… It’s very simple: they cannot have a nuclear weapon.” pic.twitter.com/gELP4Hp6HK
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2026
“We’ll be hitting them, we’ll be hitting them very hard,” he says in response to a question about what may happen in the next four weeks. “At some point they’re going to say ‘we just can’t take it anymore.’“
‘Losing faith’ in Iran
He said that Iran will grow weaker, but noted that the American public needs to prepare for more strikes in the Middle East.
Asked about the status of talks, Trump said, “they always want to talk, but they break their word so often.’
.@POTUS on Iran: “They always want to talk but they break their word so often… We have great people talking… but, they’ll make a deal—as an example, we’ll talk about nuclear, and we’ll be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours… and they’ll go out, and they’ll say,… pic.twitter.com/ITlbqBvXio
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2026
“I’m losing faith in them, because they do lie,” he added. “The five missiles they shot, we knocked them down, but we were in the midst of a negotiation.”
Asked about how many more strikes it will take to completely degrade Iran, Trump responds, “Well, you never know. Most people would have given up by now.”
Hostilities between the United States and Iran escalated on Friday after Tehran claimed it had struck two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz under US air escort.
The claim has raised fresh concerns over the security of one of the world’s most critical energy corridors, which transits one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Iran has some military capability left
Donald Trump also expressed satisfaction with Washington’s military campaign against Iran, claiming the country’s military had been largely destroyed and its manufacturing capacity was “almost gone.”
“We’ve done an amazing job here, we’re in there for five months, and if you look at Vietnam, they were there for 20 years,” he tells a cabinet meeting at Camp David.
“We’re in for five months, and we have obliterated their (Iran) military capacity. Again, they’ve got some left, but soon they won’t have some left,” Trump adds, praising his cabinet.
Iran ‘doing very poorly’
President Donald Trump also announced an “unprecedented investment” in his armed forces. “We’re also making that investment and looking forward to getting Pete Hegseth $1.5 trillion next year,” he said.
He adds that Iran is “doing very poorly” in the Middle East war.
US will give Iranian assets back to Iranian people
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in his remarks said the US is currently searching for Iranian assets around the world on the orders of President Donald Trump.
Also Read: Trump Convenes Cabinet at Camp David as Iran War Escalates
“That money will go to the Iranian people, Americans who have been harmed by the Iranians — whether it is the USS Cole or the barracks in Lebanon — or it will go back to when the Iranians attacked these ships coming out,” he says during a cabinet meeting.
US must be ‘very careful’ on giving Patriot license to Ukraine
President Trump on Ukraine said the United States must be “very careful” about giving Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air defense missiles, which Kyiv says it needs to defend against Russian attacks.
.@POTUS: “We have the greatest weaponry in the world. In the case of President Zelensky, he would like to have some Patriots, he would like to have some Tomahawks… These weapons are incredible. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them, you know? It’s very… pic.twitter.com/9ITxPs0VZz
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2026
“These weapons are incredible. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build them,” he said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump for just over an hour at the White House earlier this week for talks that came as Kyiv and Moscow intensify long-range strikes after US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled.
Zelensky said following the meeting that Trump had agreed to license Patriot production to Ukraine, but the US president only said that “many things were discussed” and “the meeting went very well!”
War going well
Earlier, President Donald Trump told Fox News that the US and Israel’s war on Iran is “going well”.
Speaking to the US channel’s senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, Trump says US troops are hitting Iran “hard”.
“It’s going well. All you can do is keep winning, then eventually something will happen,” he adds. “But we’re hitting them hard, knocking them out for a loop, and we just keep winning. Eventually they’ll have no choice but to go home.”
