Donald Trump has launched another attack on a female reporter, this time for asking if he had a plan to end the increasingly costly war in Iran.
Days after three more service members died in the conflict, the 80-year-old president suggested on Tuesday that the fighting could continue indefinitely while asserting this was “the golden age of America.”
But Trump became visibly annoyed when challenged by ABC reporter Mary Bruce to explain to the public how he planned to get out of the quagmire.
“There are no signs that Iran is ready to stop fighting. So what is the plan? Is the plan to just keep bombing until they give up?” she asked.
“Well how would you know there are no signs. Why? Do you know something that I don’t know?” Trump hit back.
“Well, they continue to attack our allies and kill Americans,” Bruce replied.
“You don’t know what the dialogue is behind the scenes: that they want to meet desperately to try and end it because they’re getting decimated,” Trump told her, before reverting to a familiar line of attack.
“You don’t get that when you listen to your fake station, but you don’t know. You don’t know anything. Do you know something that I don’t know?”
“Well, tell us,” Bruce pressed.
“I will tell you—they want to desperately meet,” the president claimed, “and until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in even meeting with them.”
Trump’s insistence that Iran is “desperate” for talks comes as the conflict continues to widen rather than wind down.
Overnight, the U.S. launched a 10th consecutive night of strikes inside Iran, while Tehran and its regional allies responded with fresh attacks on American partners and critical infrastructure across the Gulf, underscoring that neither side appears close to ending the fighting.
Publicly, Iranian officials have continued to signal defiance, while military operations have intensified on both sides. Mediation efforts involving regional partners remain underway, but there has been no public confirmation from Tehran that it is seeking the kind of meeting Trump described.
The president’s rosy assessment also sits uneasily alongside the mounting human cost. The Pentagon acknowledged Tuesday that nearly 100 U.S. service members have been injured in recent weeks, while the American death toll has climbed to 17.
Oil prices have climbed, commercial shipping has been disrupted, and Iran-backed Houthis have opened a new front by announcing a naval blockade targeting Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday’s exchange, which took place during a bilateral meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, was also the latest example of the president attacking a female reporter for doing her job.
He also hit at Bruce during an Oval Office meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince last year after she asked about the Epstein files, threatening to revoke her employers’ broadcast license and telling her she should go back to journalism school.
Trump has also admonished CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling enough; referred to Bloomberg News correspondent Catherine Lucey as a “piggy” for also asking about the Epstein files; and blasted Washington Post reporter Natalie Allison for asking about fractures in his base over his deportation strategy.
One of his most notable tirades centered on 60 Minutes correspondent Norah O’Donnell in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in April, merely 24 hours after telling reporters it was time for the nation to unite.
“You’re a disgrace,” he told O’Donnell after she asked about the shooter’s manifesto, which contained references to a “rapist” and a “pedophile.”
