Tipsheet

Trump Said Iran's Supreme Leader 'Should Be Very Worried'...and Now Nuke Talks Are Back on

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  February 04, 2026 6:00 PM

President Donald Trump had a serious warning for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a recent interview.

While speaking with a reporter in the White House, Trump indicated that Khamenei should be “very worried” as it tries to rebuild its nuclear program and continues its brutality against protesters.

The reporter noted that Iranian protesters have been questioning whether the U.S. will take action against the regime after it killed thousands of people who took to the streets in late December to oppose the regime’s policies. “Do we still have their back?” the reporter asked.

“Well, we've had their back,” Trump said. And look, that country is a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear.”

Trump continued, noting that “if we didn’t take out that nuclear—we wouldn’t have peace in the Middle East, because the Arab countries could have never done that. They were very, very afraid of Iran.”

The president said Iran was “gonna have a nuclear weapon within one month,” and that “they’re not gonna have it anymore.”

Trump indicated that if Iran is restarting its nuclear program, “we’re gonna send them right back and do their job again.”

He explained that the regime is trying to start a new nuclear site in a different part of the country. “We found out about it,” Trump said. “I said, ‘You do that, we’re gonna do very bad things to you.’”

Iran started new advanced centrifuges at Natanz and plans to build more at Fordow, according to The Associated Press. The regime is enriching uranium at near weapons-grade levels with enough stockpile to create several bombs. 

CNN reported that Iran’s government tentatively agreed to negotiations in Oman. 

In June 2025, the U.S. launched “Operation Midnight Hammer,” which included several airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites. Seven B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs, along with Tomahawk missiles from submarines. 

Meanwhile, the unrest in Iran has not stopped — despite the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters. The demonstrations began as an indictment of the government’s mishandling of its economy and the soaring inflation rates that followed.

However, it quickly morphed into a wholesale effort to oust the radical Islamic regime, which has ruled the nation with an iron fist since 1979. Trump repeatedly threatened the regime, calling Khamenei a “sick man” who must stop “the killing of people.” He suggested that the U.S. might use its military to intervene if the regime continues slaughtering protesters. 

UPDATE: Not long after Trump's threat, Iran says they're willing to talk.