Trump at Arlington: U.S. Wants 'Total Victory' Over Iran, Not 93%

President Trump used his Veterans Day remarks at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to honor America’s service members and to declare that the United States wants “a total victory, not a 93 percent victory” over Iran, according to The Washington Post.

“To every veteran here at Arlington and across the nation, we offer our highest salute,” Trump said, according to the New York Post, which reported that the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Vice President JD Vance also delivered remarks and attended the wreath-laying ceremony, according to NBC News.

.@POTUS: "This Veterans Day, I also want to say a very special thanks to every service member currently working to ensure that the world's number one state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will NEVER have a nuclear weapon." pic.twitter.com/KUFsEYG5mF

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 11, 2026

“We Won”

Trump offered special thanks to service members “working to ensure that the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will NEVER have a nuclear weapon,” according to a clip of the remarks posted on X by the White House Rapid Response account.

“America did not start a war with Iran. Iran has been waging war on America since 1979,” Trump said, according to Iran International. “We won. Just a question of when we want to end it,” he added, according to the same report.

Trump said the United States “began operations against Iran seven months ago, of which only a few weeks were active hard fighting,” and that 18 American service members had been killed, according to The Independent. “It’ll take them 25 years to rebuild what we have destroyed, and hopefully, we won’t have to destroy any more of that country,” Trump said, according to Middle East Eye.

“When this conflict is over, and it will be soon, the entire world will be a much safer and better place,” Trump said, according to Iran International. The New York Post reported that Trump said on Monday that the Iran war “is effectively over.”

A Beirut Survivor in the Crowd

Trump introduced Dale Garner, a Marine veteran who survived the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut by Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants, an attack that killed 241 American service members, according to The Independent. Trump called Garner “a veteran who reminds us why that mission really matters,” according to the same report.

Trump also pointed to the January operation in Venezuela that removed Nicolás Maduro, which he said was won “in 48 minutes,” and said the United States had “paid for the cost of the war many, many times over already” through oil, according to The Independent.

Arch and Veterans Record

Near the end of his speech, Trump said, “Soon we’re going to dedicate a magnificent triumphal arch to our veterans,” according to The Independent. NBC News reported that nine members of the Kennedy family have asked a federal judge for permission to join a lawsuit against the planned arch.

In a release on Wednesday, the White House said the VA has secured more than $10 billion in pharmaceutical savings this fiscal year and has opened 47 new health care clinics. The White House also said an executive order established the National Center for Warrior Independence to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans by 2028.

The Washington Post reported that the speech came amid rising costs tied to the war. The Independent reported that about six in 10 voters told the AP’s Election Day survey that the decision to use military force against Iran was the wrong one.

Reporting by Daily Beltway.