Trump threatens to annihilate Iran again and other takeaways from his TIME interview
By Kit Maher, Betsy Klein, Kaanita Iyer, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump said this week that he doesn’t think there will be peace with Iran in a sit-down interview that comes a little over a month before Republicans face a key test on Americans’ faith in their leadership.
The interview with TIME Magazine, which was published on Thursday, delves into the president’s thoughts on the Iran war, his renovation work at the White House, the fight over the Kennedy Center, disappointment with his own Supreme Court justice picks and potential preemptive pardons of members of his administration.
Trump is in a different political landscape today than when he last down for an interview with TIME in April 2025. He told TIME back then that he wasn’t worried about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dragging the US into a potential war with Iran, because he would go “willingly” if they couldn’t reach a nuclear deal with Iran.
Now, about seven months into a war with Iran, a recent CNN poll shows three quarters of US adults said the president lacks a clear plan for handling the situation and 78% said he’s not doing enough to end it.
Here are some of the highlights from the wide-ranging interview that was conducted Monday.
1. Trump says ‘annihilating Iran’ has ‘created peace in the world’
As the war with Iran drags on and mediators try to bring the US and Iran back to the negotiating table, Trump suggested that there could never be peace with the country.
“By annihilating Iran, we’ve created peace in the world,” Trump said. “With Iran, I don’t think you could ever have peace.”
Asked about his repeated threats to “annihilate” Iran, Trump continued to leave the door open.
“Yeah, I would do that. It’s possible,” he said.
Just a day before the TIME interview, Trump told Axios that he expected more talks with the country.
2. Trump celebrates rehabilitating the ‘disgraceful dump’ White House
Trump discussed his efforts to reshape the White House through a series of construction projects and cast the people’s house as a “disgraceful dump” and “disgusting mess” that he has fixed.
Those projects include gilding the Oval Office, a design choice that crept into other rooms. The Rose Garden has also been paved with stone and reconfigured in the image of his Mar-a-Lago patio; the tongue-in-cheek “Presidential Walk of Fame,” with biographies of his predecessors written in Trump’s voice, has been installed along the West Colonnade, plus new granite pavers; Giant new flagpoles and a helipad have been added to the lawn.
And the Palm Room flooring and storied Lincoln Bedroom bathroom have been redone in marble. He’s also overseeing construction of a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition, which he says will double as a military complex.
The president was pressed by TIME on why the projects should be important to voters who are struggling to pay bills.
The White House, he said, “is a very special symbol. It’s a symbol of America. It’s a symbol of our greatness. It’s, I think, maybe the most important symbol that we have.”
When he came into office, he said, “The White House was a dump. The moldings were falling off the outside of the building. It hadn’t been painted in … it was just a disgraceful dump. The doors were falling off. The locks were broken. And I said, I got to fix it. And I do that better than anybody else.”
He claimed that US Secret Service had recommended taking down and rebuilding the historic Oval Office, which he stopped. CNN has reached out to USSS for comment.
“This whole place was a disgusting mess, and now it’s perfect,” he said.
3. SCOTUS buyer’s remorse
Trump again expressed disappointment in the judges he selected to serve lifetime appointments on the Supreme Court, arguing they voted against him “too often.”
“I gave them the position of a lifetime, and they vote against me often,” Trump told TIME Magazine in the interview, referring to justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
The president pointed to high court’s decisions on birthright citizenship and tariffs. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year — with Coney Barrett and Gorsuch in support — that Trump violated federal law when he imposed sweeping tariffs across the globe. Months later, the highest court upheld birthright citizenship, with Coney Barrett among the majority.
“The Democrats stick like glue — those three, they virtually never vary. You can come up with the worst thing in the world and they’ll vote as a group,” Trump said. “And while I don’t like it, there’s something I admire about it: there’s loyalty.”
Asked if he wants loyalty from his Supreme Court picks, Trump responded, “No, I don’t want loyalty. I want good decisions. The tariff decision was disastrous for the country. I want good decisions for the country.”
His comments come even though the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, has dealt some major wins for Trump since his return to office.
4. Trump won’t rule out Kennedy Center demolition
Trump repeatedly declined during the interview to rule out demolishing the Kennedy Center as the arts institution remains embroiled in a legal battle and employees have been notified of a review of the building’s safety.
Asked if he was willing to demolish the center, Trump said, “It’s in terrible shape. I’d be willing to save it, but it’s in terrible, terrible shape. Only I can save it.”
Pressed once more on whether he would commit to not bringing in wrecking balls to demolish the building, Trump said, “I’m not committing to anything. We’re going to see how it plays out in court.”
He was pictured earlier this month reviewing a poster that appeared to float the idea of demolishing the Kennedy Center. The situation remains mired in legal proceedings.
Late Wednesday evening, the center’s executive director, Matt Floca, sent the small group of remaining staff an email noting that the building itself “remains temporarily closed” after teams have assessed its condition.
5. Potential preemptive pardons
Trump also said that he would consider issuing pardons to members of his administration toward the end of his term.
“Yeah, sure I’d do that,” Trump said, adding that former President Joe Biden “gave pardons to everyone.”
Before leaving office, Biden issued several preemptive pardons, including clemency for Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of Congress on the January 6 investigative committee, as well as members of his family under the belief that the Trump administration would target them for prosecution.
The typical jockeying for pardons has ramped up significantly under the Trump administration. The president himself has taken an increasingly personal role in the government’s clemency process, wielding pardons with historic frequency to aid allies and advance his own political grievances.
In the TIME interview, Trump said that if Republicans lose the House of Representatives in November, Democrats will “probably go after me and I’ll go after them.”
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