U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media subsequent to White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 11, 2026.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday mentioned he is not fearful about Iran executing a terror assault inside the US in retaliation for the continuing warfare by the U.S. and Israel.
“No, I do not,” Trump advised a reporter outdoors the White Home when requested if he feared such a home assault.
Trump additionally touted progress within the warfare in opposition to Iran, which is in its eleventh day, earlier than departing for a visit to Kentucky and Ohio.
“Proper now, they’ve misplaced their Navy, their Air Drive. They don’t have any anti-aircraft equipment in any respect,” the president mentioned. “Their leaders are gone, and we might do quite a bit worse.”
Trump mentioned the U.S. navy is “leaving sure issues” in Iran, which may very well be destroyed by the afternoon, if want be, and “they actually would by no means be capable to construct that nation again.”
Later within the day, Trump advised reporters upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that the U.S. has positioned all Iranian “sleeper cells” — covert teams embedded in international nations that stay dormant till activated to hold out terror assaults.
“We all know the place Iranian ‘sleeper cells’ are … we’ve eyes on all of them,” Trump mentioned, including that the U.S. was “in superb form” in its warfare on Iran, in keeping with a Reuters feed of his assertion.
The U.S. navy had destroyed about 16 of Iran’s mine-layers, Trump mentioned. Requested if Iran had mined the Strait of Hormuz, which is the world’s most delicate choke level for oil shipments, Trump mentioned, “We do not suppose so.”
In a report Tuesday that cited two folks accustomed to U.S. intelligence reporting, CNN mentioned that Iran started laying mines within the strait, albeit just some dozen in current days.
Trump, referring to the CEOs of main oil firms, mentioned, “I feel they need to” ship tankers by means of the slim strait, which has remained successfully closed due to the warfare.
A spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs warned Monday that tankers passing by means of the strait “have to be very cautious.”
The Strait of Hormuz, which lies off the southern coast of Iran, connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
The insurance coverage large Chubb mentioned Wednesday that it’ll function lead underwriter for a U.S.-government-led program to supply insurance coverage to ships passing by means of the strait.
Trump on Wednesday disregarded a query a few report by The New York Occasions, which mentioned that “newly launched video provides to the proof that an American missile doubtless hit an Iranian elementary college the place 175 folks, a lot of them youngsters, had been reported killed.”
Trump mentioned, “I do not find out about that” discovering, which backs up different analyses that the U.S. navy was chargeable for that Feb. 28 assault on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary college.
The president once more criticized the management of Spain for not serving to the U.S. warfare effort.
“We could minimize off commerce with Spain,” mentioned Trump, who has a penchant for utilizing tariffs and different retaliatory commerce practices as leverage in opposition to different nations.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has incurred Trump’s wrath for barring the U.S. navy from utilizing two bases in Andalusia to launch strikes on Iran.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an X publish on Wednesday, wrote that in conversations with “the presidents of the governments of Russia and Pakistan, whereas saying the Islamic Republic’s dedication to peace and tranquility within the area, I emphasised that the one method to finish the warfare that started with the warmongering of the Zionist regime and America is the acceptance of Iran’s indeniable rights, cost of reparations, and a agency worldwide obligation to stop their aggression from recurring.”
