President Donald Trump has bizarrely claimed that the Iraq War took place in a “pre-nuclear” era as he tried to justify the possibility of a U.S. attack on Iran.
In baffling remarks, as he weighs whether to help Israel in the Middle East, Trump suggested nuclear weapons barely existed when America invaded Iraq in 2003—despite the first nuclear bomb being created in 1945.
Speaking to reporters after landing in New Jersey on Friday for a MAGA Inc. fundraising dinner at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, Trump was asked: “Years ago, you were skeptical of a Republican administration that attacked a Middle East country on the idea of questionable intelligence of weapons of mass destruction. How is this moment different with Iran?”
“Well, there were no weapons of mass destruction—I never thought there were,” replied Trump.
“And that was a somewhat pre-nuclear [time]. You know, it was, there was a nuclear age, but nothing like it is today.”
Q: 20 years ago you were skeptical of a GOP administration that attacked a Middle East country on the idea of questionable intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. How is this different?TRUMP: That was somewhat pre-nuclear. It was the nuclear age but nothing like it is… pic.twitter.com/wBGh9pp3P3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 20, 2025
The president’s comments spawned confusion and ridicule online given that nuclear weapons were used in World War II and countries such as Russia, China, Pakistan, India, and the U.S. have been building up their arsenals ever since.
“Does Donald Trump have any idea when the atom bomb was dropped on Japan?” wrote one user.
“What in god’s name is he talking about?” asked another.
Trump added that he was “very much opposed” to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in which the U.S sought to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein.
However, public records suggest Trump expressed lukewarm support for the war the first time he was asked about it in September 2002 and that he did not come out clearly against U.S. involvement until 2004 amid growing opposition to the war.
“I was very much opposed to the Iraq War, and I actually did say: don’t go in, don’t go in, don’t go in. But if you’re going to go in, keep the oil,” he told reporters. “They didn’t do that.”
The president’s comments were made at a tense time in the Middle East as he considers helping Israel destroy a deeply buried Iranian nuclear enrichment facility at Fordo, using a 30,000-pound bomb known as a “bunker buster.”
But even the consideration of such a move has sparked a civil war within the MAGA movement, which elected Trump partly because he pledged not to get involved in “endless foreign wars.”
After giving mixed messages for days, Trump announced on Thursday that he would make a decision within two weeks, leaving the door open to a diplomatic off-ramp.
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said through his White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Thursday.
Explaining his thinking on Friday afternoon, Trump said he believed Iran had “gathered a tremendous amount of material” and could have a nuclear weapon “within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months.”
This, however, contradicts the intelligence community, led by his own Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has said that Tehran was not actively pursuing nuclear weapons.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said, in a blunt smackdown of his cabinet member.
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