Speaking at a rally in Nebraska (NYT), regarding the Iranians:
“They could take out a city,” he said. “Let them take — Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
One could take this as just further random ruminations, but it strikes me that the president has in principle access to the entire output of the US intelligence community (even if he doesn’t seemingly heed the warnings).
At a time when counterterrorism resources have been redirected to immigration control, or reduced, this event is troubling to me.
Addendum, 2:40PM CT:
From LA Times:
White House communications director Steven Cheung pushed back on the criticism on X.
“The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality. He was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped. America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money,” he wrote.
It was unclear whether Trump’s comments were based on any intelligence, and it’s far from clear that Iran has anywhere near the capability for a missile attack on the U.S.
In March, Iran launched missiles toward Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean island that is home to a strategic U.K.-U.S. military base. The Associated Press reported at the time that Iran had a self-imposed limit on its ballistic missile program, limiting the range to 1,240 miles. Diego Garcia is well outside that range. U.S. officials, however, long have alleged that Iran’s space program could allow it to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Also in March, law enforcement agencies across California were warned that the Iran war could lead to a surprise drone attack in the Golden State. But sources told The Times there’s no credible intelligence to support it and officials said they did not take it seriously.