President Donald Trump departed the G7 summit Monday evening, cutting short his planned time in Canada due to developments in the Middle East and warning that residents of Iran’s capital should evacuate immediately.
Trump said he was looking for a “complete give-up” on the part of Iran, and that he was not just seeking a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Asked about the possibility of Iranian attacks on U.S. assets or personnel, Trump said the U.S. would respond. “We’ll come down so hard; then the gloves are off,” he said.
Trump also said he believed Iran was “very close” to a nuclear weapon, despite Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s public testimony to the contrary in March: “The [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” Gabbard told the House Intelligence Committee.
“I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having them,” Trump said.
Gabbard was already scheduled to testify before he Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in a closed session on Tuesday.
Trump had been slated to have another full day Tuesday at the gathering of world leaders in Canada’s Rocky Mountains before landing in Washington early Wednesday morning. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday evening that the president would instead return to the White House the same night following a working dinner with his G7 counterparts.
“President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Much was accomplished, but because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State,” Leavitt wrote on social media.
That came almost one hour after Trump had issued his Tehran warning, suggesting a major strike on the Iranian capital could be coming soon.
“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in between G7 sessions. “Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
White House and National Security Council officials had not responded to an inquiry seeking more information about Trump’s warning to Tehran residents.
Asked before the working dinner why he would be returning to Washington, Trump told reporters: “I have to be back.”
“You probably see what I see, and I have to be back as soon as I can,” he said. “I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand.”
As Trump changed his plans, U.S. and Middle Eastern cable television networks played video footage of new strikes in both Israel and Iran.
Some senior Israeli officials, during television interviews on Monday, sidestepped reports — confirmed by White House officials — that Trump had vetoed a plan presented by Israeli leaders to target Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News, describing Khamenei as “like a modern Hitler.”
Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, was asked on CNN if he knew of any effort by the Trump administration and Iran to find a peaceful, diplomatic end to the conflict.
“The question is, what do you mean by ‘peaceful, diplomatic’? Because you can speak ‘peaceful, diplomatic,’ and on the other hand, underneath you move forward to the bomb,” Herzog said of Iranian officials. “And that was exactly the situation. And let’s not elude ourselves.”
“For decades, Iran has been spreading havoc, terror, hate, building a massive missile program and a massive nuclear program, and with its proxies all over the place, simply planning to destroy Israel. And, by the way, by that regaining full control or gaining full control of the jihadist regime over the Middle East, and from there on Europe is the next stage,” Herzog added. “And one has to realize it. We are not inventing.”
Following a Monday morning meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Trump was asked what he and his administration have been hearing from Iranian leaders since Israel launched its strikes early Friday morning, local time.
“They’d like to talk, but they should’ve done that before. … They had 60 days,” Trump said of his administration’s negotiations with Iran. “On the 61st day, I said, ‘We don’t have a deal.’
“They have to make a deal, and it’s painful for both parties but I’d say Iran is not winning this war,” Trump added. “And they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it’s too late.”
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