It took President Trump about 90 minutes in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to get to Iran, the topic that much of the world was most eager to hear about.
When he did, Mr. Trump only spent three minutes talking about the country, largely repeating his vague talking points from recent days. By the time his most high-profile speech of the year was over, the president had done little to explain why he had amassed the largest amount of U.S. military firepower in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Iran is “again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Mr. Trump said, asserting that Iran had resumed working toward building a nuclear weapon after the U.S. bombing of its nuclear facilities last June.
“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal,” the president said, restating his prior position without offering new details about what sort of deal he was seeking. “But we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”
Iran has, in fact, often made that promise, even as evidence gathered over the years has shown that the country has repeatedly appeared to be testing the components that would go into a nuclear weapon. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said in a social media post before Mr. Trump’s speech that Iran “will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon.”
President George W. Bush preceded his 2003 invasion with months of speeches making a case for war, to Americans and to the world. That argument turned out to be based on falsehoods, and the war that followed, in the view of many historians, was a grave strategic error. But Mr. Trump’s cursory reference to Iran on Tuesday highlighted how the current president was not trying very hard to convince the public that the country posed a threat worth the risk of American lives.
Mr. Trump’s decision not to dwell on Iran appeared to reflect the White House’s efforts to focus on domestic issues like the economy and immigration, with the midterm elections approaching.
It may have also been an indication of his struggle to define U.S. objectives in precipitating a showdown with a country of 90 million people. The issue is particularly sensitive for Mr. Trump because he campaigned on a message of avoiding drawn-out foreign wars. Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has privately warned Mr. Trump that attacking Iran could bring a high risk of American casualties.
Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed key lawmakers about Iran. After the session, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, told reporters: “This is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people.”
Mr. Trump has dispatched ever greater numbers of warships and warplanes to the Middle East in recent weeks, including two aircraft carrier groups and dozens of fighter jets, bombers and refueling aircraft. He initially threatened to strike Iran in January, to respond to its government’s bloody crackdown on protests. More recently, he has threatened to attack if Iran failed to reach a deal to limit its nuclear program, a message he reprised Tuesday evening.
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” Mr. Trump said. “But one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.”
Negotiators from the United States and Iran are scheduled to meet in Geneva on Thursday for another round of talks, even as U.S. military assets have moved into place for possible strikes. Mr. Trump has been considering an initial strike to push Iran to make a deal giving up the ability to make a nuclear weapon, his advisers have said.
While Mr. Trump said little about Iran in his speech on Tuesday, he was far more loquacious when it came to his most recent major military intervention: Venezuela. In great detail, Mr. Trump described the actions of Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot wounded in the January raid to seize President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. The pilot’s blood “was flowing back down the aisle” of the helicopter as it landed “at a steep angle,” Mr. Trump recounted.
It was a sign that the president remained enamored of the U.S. military, of his powers as commander in chief and of the impression he believes his shows of force have made around the world. He has faced little political blowback from his supporters for his repeated military interventions, even though some Republicans are worried that Mr. Trump appears to be too focused on foreign policy.
Foreign leaders, Mr. Trump asserted on Tuesday, told him in phone calls that the attack on Venezuela was “very impressive.”
“They all watched. They saw what happened,” he said.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting.
Anton Troianovski writes about American foreign policy and national security for The Times from Washington. He was previously a foreign correspondent based in Moscow and Berlin.
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