U.S. has done "amazing job" with Iran war, Trump says
CBS News · LC · trust 65/100
Updated on: July 31, 2026 / 12:50 PM EDT / CBS News
President Trump indicated during a Cabinet meeting Friday he's not certain he'll be able to make a deal with Iran due to their dishonesty.
"I'm losing faith in them, because they do lie and they do misrepresent," Mr. Trump said, then going on to describe Iran stepping up the war with an attack overnight Thursday. "The other day, the five missiles [Iran] shot, we knocked them down, we were in the midst of a negotiation. I'm waiting for Steve [Witkoff] to call me, 'How was the negotiation going?' and instead I got a call from Pete [Hegseth] that they just shot five missiles at one of our bases in Jordan."
Mr. Trump praised Witkoff, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President JD Vance for their efforts in negotiating but said of Iran, "They break their word so often."
"As an example, we will talk about nuclear and we will be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours. ... Then they will go out and I will say, 'They discussed nuclear,' and they will say, 'We never discussed nuclear," the president said of Iran. "And I will say, 'Why did they say that?' All they do is make me angry, you know? They just make me angry."
President Trump said the U.S. will be hitting Iran "very hard" until they change their tune.
"We'll be hitting them," Mr. Trump said during his Cabinet meeting at Camp David. "We'll be hitting them very hard. And you know at some point, they're going to say, 'We just can't take it anymore."
When asked if he had rejected an idea to "go big" on attacks in Iran, the president quickly interjected, "We are going big. We have already gone big. What is big?"
President Trump opened a Cabinet meeting on Friday saying the U.S. has done an "amazing job" with the war in Iran, going back to the refrain that wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Korea were longer.
"We've done an amazing job here. We're in there for five months," Mr. Trump said. "And if you look at Vietnam, they were in there for 20 years. You look at Afghanistan, they were in there for many years. You look at any one of the wars, Korea, any one of them. They're in there for many years. We're in for five months, and we have obliterated their military capacity. Again, they've got some left, but soon they won't have some left."
The president largely focused on the economy and immigration in his opening remarks, but repeatedly piled on Iran despite the American public's frustration with the lagging war.
"Iran is doing very poorly. Just in case you read incorrect stories, they're doing very, very poorly," Mr. Trump said. "They're having a hard time. They've been very dishonest. They've been very dishonorable to deal with. But that makes no difference. They're doing very, very poorly."
No Chinese citizens were affected by an Iranian attack that hit a Chinese company building in Kuwait on Thursday, according to the country's foreign ministry.
In a statement carried by the Xinhua state news agency, a spokesperson said "according to verified information, no Chinese citizens were affected" by the strike that killed one worker , whose nationality remains unknown.
China has urged Kuwait to take measures to safeguard its citizens, the statement added.
Israeli forces carried out a series of powerful detonations overnight near the UNESCO-listed Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported Friday, with Israel saying it destroyed tunnels used by Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
"Israeli forces triggered very powerful explosions around midnight," specifically "in the area of the Beaufort fortress," Lebanon's National News Agency said, adding the huge blasts resounded over a large area, shattering glass in nearby villages.
The Crusader-era castle, located in an area occupied by Israel, was added last week to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the army had destroyed "terror tunnels in the Beaufort area" using approximately 700 tons of explosives.
They said the explosions came after a "blatant violation of the ceasefire" between Lebanon and Israel by Hezbollah.
The group has not claimed any attacks since a ceasefire came into force on June 20.
Lebanon's culture ministry said the explosions struck "the area opposite the fortress," warning that "the vibrations from the explosions may have caused damage" in the castle's vicinity.
The Israeli army said that "the tunnel network served as a central command centre" for Hezbollah and consisted of "several underground levels that were built over the course of two decades."
American oil and gas giants raked in massive spring profits while fighting between Iran and the U.S. impeded petroleum shipments and consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages.
The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126.
The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices climbed during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The attacks between the U.S. and Iran resulted in huge profits for some of the biggest publicly traded oil companies as they sold their goods for higher prices. Exxon Mobil on Friday reported doubling its second-quarter profits to $14.53 billion, up 105% from the same time a year ago. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in…
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