US President Donald Trump has declared that the United States is ‘essentially controlling’ strategic waterways connected to Iran and will soon assume full control, while reaffirming that Tehran will never be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon. Trump made the remarks in a radio interview broadcast on Wednesday, 21 August, defending his administration’s military actions against Iran and acknowledging that American consumers may face higher energy and petrol costs as a consequence.

Key Statements from the Interview

Speaking on 77 WABC Radio in an interview with his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump said: ‘Now with Iran, they will never have a nuclear weapon. We’ve, we’re controlling, essentially controlling and soon controlling the Straits. We’re doing very well with Iran.’ He did not identify the waterways by name in the portion of the interview released on Wednesday.

Trump claimed Iran’s navy, air force and leadership had been severely weakened, complicating any path to a negotiated settlement. ‘Part of the problem is so many of the leaders are gone. It’s not easy to make a deal. Nobody knows who’s leading,’ he said.

B-2 Bomber Strikes and Nuclear Timeline

The president defended the deployment of B-2 bombers against Iranian nuclear facilities, asserting the strikes were conducted ‘deep at night’ and that every bomb hit its intended target. ‘When we hit them with the B-2 bombers, they were exactly two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon,’ Trump said, describing the operation as one he ‘would’ve done again a hundred times.’

He also claimed Iran had been ‘militarily wiped out,’ citing a degraded capacity to produce missiles and drones, soaring inflation, a weakened currency, and reportedly unpaid military personnel as indicators of mounting pressure on Tehran.

Costs to American Consumers

Trump acknowledged the conflict’s economic toll on ordinary Americans, saying energy and petrol costs would be ‘a little higher.’ He framed the trade-off as unavoidable: ‘We have to make a journey to the Middle East because we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.’ He argued that preventing nuclear proliferation in the region justified the increased burden on consumers.

Broader Regional Claims

Trump contended that a nuclear-armed Iran would have attacked Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain. ‘There would be no Israel if there was no Donald Trump,’ he said, adding that he believed the broader Middle East ‘would have been entirely wiped out.’

Separately, Trump addressed Venezuela, immigration, tariffs and the US economy, describing manufacturing investment returning to the United States as ‘a renaissance.’ He said tariffs were drawing automobile, semiconductor, pharmaceutical and medical equipment production back to American soil.

Context: Cohen and Trump

Michael Cohen served for years as Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer before a bitter public rupture. Cohen subsequently testified against Trump and became one of his most prominent critics — making the interview an unusual platform for the president’s defence of his Iran policy.

The remarks come amid ongoing uncertainty over Iran’s chain of command following reported strikes on its military and nuclear infrastructure, with no formal peace framework yet announced by either side.