Trump repeats Iran ‘two weeks from nuclear weapon’ claim

Trump on Wednesday will campaign in Arizona and Montana, following a stop in Alaska, where polling has shown Democratic candidate Mary Peltola tied or slightly ahead of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in a state Trump carried by 14 percentage points in 2024.

Alaska is among the states where Democrats see a Senate flip opportunity in the midterms, with the president’s standing weakened by voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and a conflict in the Middle East that has proven deeply unpopular, The Guardian reported.

At the Alaska rally, opening for Trump, Sullivan acknowledged Alaskans face “challenges” on energy costs but sought to redirect blame. “The conflict in the Middle East is temporary,” he said. “The true forever war is the national Democrats’ war against Alaska oil and gas and our jobs.”

Trump has taken to campaigning in conservative-leaning parts of competitive states, rather than in more politically diverse areas with more votes potentially up for grabs, The Guardian reported.

In other developments from Trump’s Alaska stop, the president said he launched the war on Iran because, “they were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.” U.S. intelligence agencies reported to Congress in 2025 that Iran had suspended its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003. In the summer of 2025, Trump ordered the bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, which he later claimed had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. Eight months later, he launched a full-scale war on Iran. The Guardian characterized Trump’s claim as false.

At the rally, Trump pardoned two local repair shop owners convicted of violating the federal Clean Air Act for removing pollution controls on diesel engines, The Guardian reported. Trump also encouraged Republicans to vote by mail, a process he has repeatedly sought to curtail and discredit.

Aboard Air Force One on the way to Alaska, Trump posted on his social media platform video of a British man fatally mauled by a tiger last week, with the mocking caption: “Don’t ever mess with nature!” The Guardian reported.

The new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was asked where she passed the bar exam and replied: “I moved to China,” The Guardian reported.