Trump Tussles With Fox’s Laura Ingraham Over Iran: ‘I Thought We Decimated Them’

President Donald Trump and Fox News host Laura Ingraham sparred over the state of the war in Iran, with Ingraham questioning how Tehran was still able to launch attacks despite the administration’s claims of military success: “I thought we decimated them.”

The interview, which aired on Thursday’s edition of the network’s The Ingraham Angle, took place in Dallas, Texas, at the president’s Republican midterm convention.

“The Iran war,” Ingraham began, before adopting the president and vice president’s preferred terminology: “conflict, military conflict. Um, there’s a lot of back and forth lately. Obviously, they’re firing on our ships, our Navy ships, or attempting to.”

“No, we knocked out nine of their tankers,” Trump interjected, promising once again that the war will end “right after the election.”

Ingraham went on to point out Wednesday reporting from The Wall Street Journal that, in her words, “said that [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio and [Vice President JD] Vance believe the conflict could go on after the next presidential election — until January 2029.”

“I’m not gonna say when, but I think it ends right after the election,” the president reiterated. “They’re limping along. They’re in deep trouble.”

“How are they getting off missiles?” Ingraham asked, referring to continued Iranian strikes on U.S. military assets in the region. “I thought we decimated them.”

“Well, they can always get off missiles,” Trump responded, claiming that Iran still has “some” projectiles, although they’ve been “largely wiped out.”

“If we hadn’t done Iran, you’d be cruising to midterm victory,” Ingraham predicted. “$2.25 gas. I mean, you’d be cruising.”

“Well, you don’t know that,” Trump countered.

“Any regrets?” the Fox News host asked.

“No,” the president said. “I don’t believe in the word regret. You can always question yourself a little bit.”

Trump emphasized that if allowed to do it all again, he’d “do it exactly as I did.”

After touting what he described as an “all-time high” stock market, Trump stressed that Iran is “trying to do anything possible to get me out… because they think the Democrats will let them, essentially, have a nuclear weapon.”

“I know you are against the war and all that,” the president acknowledged to Ingraham. “I know you very well, and I think it’s fine, but I don’t know how you could be, because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if I didn’t do what I did, they would have a nuclear weapon.”

“But even the neoconservatives are saying, ‘If you’re gonna go in, go in full. Just go in and take ’em out,'” the Fox News host noted.

“Well, maybe I don’t do that because of the election,” Trump admitted.

Of Iran, he added, “At some point, the military and the law enforcement are gonna stop shooting the protesters. It’s a little — it’s amazing how they can do that. You know, China did it successfully with the army tank. You remember? Other countries couldn’t.”

“China never seems to get in many military conflicts,” Ingraham interrupted. “They’ve decided they’re gonna take care of their own industry and their own industrialization.”

She went on to ask Trump to provide a message to “all the young men” who are “demoralized” amidst the conflict, allegations that Trump swiftly denied.

“No, no, no,” Trump insisted. “I disagree with you.”

Watch above on Fox News.

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