Trump tells Hugh Hewitt he would strike Iran again with 'no hesitation'

US President Donald Trump said he would not hold back from using military force against Iran again if he judged that the situation was moving in the wrong direction, and suggested such action could even come immediately. He made the remarks to conservative host Hugh Hewitt on the Salem News Channel, The Times of Israel reported.

Asked whether he would hesitate to act militarily, Trump answered that he would act "if I saw things going the other way," adding that it was possible he would do so "right now." The Hebrew-language outlet News.co.il reported that the conversation was a telephone interview and rendered his reply as a pledge to act without hesitation. The Jerusalem Post framed the comments as a threat to renew military strikes on Iran.

What Trump said about the current situation

According to The Times of Israel, Trump paired the warning with an upbeat assessment of where things stand. He said the United States was "doing very well" on the Iran file at present, and claimed that more oil is now leaving the region than before the war began. He also said the United States "totally" controls the Strait of Hormuz.

The Times of Israel noted that this last claim sits awkwardly with events at sea, pointing to attacks on vessels transiting the strait that it described as happening almost daily. Trump did not, in the material reported, address those attacks directly.

The Salem News Channel promoted the exclusive interview on X under the words "NO HESITATION," saying the president was not ruling out further military action. In the channel's summary, Trump said he would do whatever was needed to stop the Iranian government from threatening American allies and shipping.

The Strait of Hormuz and why it matters

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea passage linking the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, with Iran on its northern shore. A large share of the oil exported from Gulf producers moves through it by tanker, which is why control of the waterway, and the safety of ships using it, has become a central measure of how the confrontation with Iran is going. Trump's claim about oil volumes and his claim of control over the strait both speak to that measure.

Who Hugh Hewitt and Salem are

Hugh Hewitt is a conservative American broadcaster, and the Salem News Channel is a conservative news outlet that carries his programme. Interviews with friendly hosts on such outlets are a regular venue for Trump to set out positions, and the channel itself released a clip of this exchange on social media.

Renewed strikes, not a first strike

The way the remarks were reported matters for readers trying to place them. Both The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post described Trump as talking about renewing strikes, and Trump himself referred to the period before "the war started." That language indicates the United States has already been in an armed confrontation with Iran and that Trump was discussing a possible return to active military operations, rather than opening a new conflict. The reports do not describe the current military posture in detail.

For Israel, which regards Iran as its principal regional adversary, any American decision on whether to resume strikes bears directly on its own security. None of the reports carried a response from the Israeli government to Trump's comments.

How the accounts differ

The three outlets agree on the substance: Trump, speaking to Hewitt on the Salem News Channel, said he would use force against Iran without hesitation if things went badly and that it might happen right away. They differ on format and emphasis. News.co.il described a phone interview, while The Times of Israel referred to Hewitt as a television host and the channel posted video. News.co.il presented the question as one about military force in general; the two English-language outlets cast it as a question of renewing strikes.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not say what developments Trump would regard as things going "the other way," and he gave no specific trigger or timeline. No reaction from Iran, from Israel or from US allies in the region was reported. Trump's claims about oil flows and about American control of the Strait of Hormuz were reported as his assertions, and none of the outlets cited figures supporting them.