President Donald Trump was joined by several children in the Oval Office Tuesday to celebrate his signing of a proclamation to restore the Presidential Fitness Test award, during which he deviated from the topic of youth sports to discuss his wildly unpopular war against Iran, turning to one of the children as he made his case for the conflict.
After championing his revival of the competitive school-based fitness program, Trump touted his administration’s accomplishments, claiming that the country “is doing great” and “breaking records,” while also lamenting it as being “too bad” that he had to authorize an attack on Iran in late February.
“We can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said, before turning to a child standing to his left. “You might be too young for this – they probably know better than most people – but you can't let a bunch of lunatics have a nuclear weapon or the world would be in trouble.”
Trump then pivoted to boast about past economic accomplishments, citing the strong performance of the Dow and the S&P 500 – two major U.S. stock market indexes – seen prior to his launching of the war against Iran.
He also lamented not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize last year, repeating his false claim that he ended “eight wars,” and said that the 2025 recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, told him he “deserved” the honor. Machado has since “presented” her award to Trump.
"You might be too young for this"
Trump makes his Iran war pitch to child: pic.twitter.com/r7zlz2hFrr
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) May 5, 2026