Trump breaks with decades of US policy in jaw-dropping confession that Iran will have missiles as part of peace deal

In a stunning departure from decades of established US foreign policy, President Donald Trump revealed that a forthcoming peace agreement with Iran will likely allow the regime to retain its conventional ballistic missiles, arguing that a complete ban is unrealistic because 'they got to have some.'

'What am I going to do? Am I going to let Saudi Arabia have missiles, but they can't have them?' Trump said during the briefing. 'Missiles aren't the problem. They hurt a little location, but they don't blow up the planet.'

A reporter pressed Trump, saying one of the goals of Epic Fury was to destroy Iran's ballistic missiles.

'What are they keeping? They have less than other nations now. The rest of them are underground. They can't even get them out. Are you going to let the 91 million people starve to death?' Trump said in defense. 

For generations, every American administration has maintained a strict 'red line' against Iran's ballistic missile capabilities. 

The issue was a big criticism in President Barack Obama's 2015 JCPOA, which explicitly excluded missiles because Iran refused to negotiate them - a move that hawks, including Trump himself during his first term, heavily criticized. 

Trump ultimately withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, citing the missile program as 'unfinished business' and subsequently launched a maximum pressure campaign that demanded total missile restrictions.

However, speaking to reporters about a new memorandum of understanding, Trump broke not only with his predecessors but with his own historical stance by conceding that Iran would likely retain a missile arsenal.
His sudden concession that Iran 'has to have' them isn't just a break from establishment bipartisan policy; it's a U-turn on his own first-term record.