On Monday, President Trump spoke with the Salem News Channel's Hugh Hewitt in a free-wheeling conversation (that seems to be the only sort President Trump engages in). President Trump had some things to say, as one might expect, about Iran - and he let slip some of his plans for Iran over the next day or two, which won't really come as any surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.
First, on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which (called it) proved to be not worth the paper it was printed on.
.@POTUS on the MOU with Iran: "It was a test. We didn't know. Look, memorandums of understanding when you're dealing with sleaze bags don't mean much... it was sort of a test, and they weren't there. They didn't honor the test." pic.twitter.com/WcnbVaLI5t
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 13, 2026
Here's how that went:
Hugh Hewitt: Was the MOU that your negotiators brought back, was that a sidesaddle MOU? Was that built to fall apart?
President Trump: It was built to test. It was a test. We didn't know. It didn't... look, memorandum of understanding when you're dealing with sleazebags, don't mean much. And they don't mean much when you're dealing with honorable people, too, because it's a memorandum of understanding, it doesn't mean much, and I said why are we even... It's a standard tactic in the U.S. that you go to a memorandum of understanding, and then you go to the deal. I said, just go to the deal first. But you know what, it was sort of a test. And they weren't there, they didn't honor the test. We had it, we had this deal settled, numerous times, I said watch, I guarantee, watch, and they never followed it.
That was the "Fool Around." Next, President Trump described the "Find Out."
.@POTUS: "We're going to hit them very hard tonight and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there's not a damn thing they can do about it. They have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths... I got to know them, and they're stone cold crazy." https://t.co/vKSOZN3EaI pic.twitter.com/UH8lBL5An3
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 13, 2026
First video:
Hugh Hewitt: Can you or the American military or the Israeli military get to what's left of their third string and their fourth string and their fifth string? Do you know where they are? Can you kill them?
President Trump: Yeah, I do, but we don't want to talk about that. But we certainly are watching. I know a lot about that subject, I know a lot, but I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it right now. But we will be hitting them as an example, we're going to hit them very hard tonight, and, uh, we're going to hit them hard tomorrow, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it. They have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths.
Hugh Hewitt: Keep it up, Mr. President.
President Trump: It was very good that I did, that I got to know them, took the chance, and it's a lot better. People say, I was at least reasonable. But I got to know them and they're stone cold crazy people.
From the very beginning, there were plenty of folks who thought the negotiations would ultimately fail, because the Iranians can only be trusted to be untrustworthy. But President Trump seems to acknowledge, in this statement, that the talks weren't a waste of time, pointing out that we tried negotiations - and they failed.
Read More: CENTCOM Deploys New Sea Drones for the First Time Against Iranian Targets
Plot Twist! President Trump Declares Blockade of Iran Is Back on and That the US Controls Hormuz
Second video:
President Trump: Well, I think they're a little kookoo, I think they all are. We knocked out the first regime, then knocked out the second regime, then took out about 25 percent of this regime. And they're wired a little bit differently. We had a deal yesterday, it was going to be like a hundred percent, then all of a sudden, they got a phone call, and they all ran out of the room. These people are crazy. We had a deal where we won everything. And they basically break the deals. You know, they make deals; to them, deals are made to be broken. They are extremely unreliable people, and frankly, if they ever had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it within one day.
This was known all along, of course; diplomacy, after all, is too often the art of saying "Nice doggie, nice doggie" until you can find a rock. The United States, as Iran is finding out, has a lot of rocks - big ones.
And, now, the Find Out phase resumes:
At 4:45 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief's direction. These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 13, 2026
The post:
At 4:45 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief's direction. These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has been asking for this for 47 years. Now, at last, they are learning a valuable lesson in being careful what they wish for.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
Help us report the truth about the Trump administration's decisive actions to keep Americans safe and bring peace to the world. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member