O’Reilly on Trump pressuring Iran toward a deal: ‘I don’t think he’s flailing’

Administration O’Reilly on Trump pressuring Iran toward a deal: ‘I don’t think he’s flailing’ Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 08/11/26 8:48 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 08/11/26 8:48 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Political commentator Bill O’Reilly on Monday said Trump is not “flailing” as he seeks to pressure Iran to accept a deal to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz while also addressing the regime’s nuclear program.

When asked about Trump’s policy, O’Reilly advised that the president needs to inflict “more pain on Iran than Iran is inflicting on the world.” In response, NewsNation’s Leland Vittert pressed the commentator on whether Trump was “flailing.”

“I don’t think he’s flailing,” O’Reilly told the “On Balance” host. “I don’t think that’s fair. He’s got to make very difficult decisions. He didn’t want to kill thousands of civilians. He told me that directly, all right? He didn’t want to do it.”

“But now there doesn’t seem to be any other choice. So these mullahs aren’t going to stop. And when somebody isn’t going to stop, you have to stop them,” he continued. “And the only way we can stop them is to destroy the infrastructure of their country, which includes the uranium at Pickaxe and the capital city. You do that, the equation changes.”

O’Reilly added that if he were president, he would “take out” and “obliterate” Pickaxe Mountain and then tell citizens in Tehran to evacuate “because we’re going to wreck your infrastructure.”

“That means water. That means power,” he continued. “Now, the world would go crazy. You know what would happen. [The] Democratic Party would jump up and down here. Trump would be almost alone. But that is the way to do it.”

Vittert indicated that Trump appears to be “paralyzed” between not launching new attacks and not being able to bring the Islamic Republic back to the negotiating table. O’Reilly disagreed, saying the U.S. “had enough” with Germany and Japan during World War II “and we took care of that.”

“And we’re going to have to do the same thing with Iran,” he continued, later saying that Trump “is not flailing, he just has to change the game plan.”

The commander in chief’s latest demand from Iran is to have the regime pay for damages to the U.S., referring to the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. This compensation could go to the families of the protesters who were killed in Iran “over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.”

Trump added that, moving forward, the compensation requirement would be part of ongoing negotiations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei told reporters in Iran on Monday that there are no talks currently happening between the two countries, the state-run Fars News Agency reported. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early Tuesday that Tehran has proven itself to be “resilient” and an “invincible power against the U.S.,” according to the local outlet.

“In diplomacy as well, the Iranian nation showed that it knows how to defend its rights properly,” Araghchi continued. “Various officials have repeatedly told us that ‘you won both the war and the diplomacy.'”