Trump is in a confrontation with Los Angeles and San Diego over Iran
Author, Jamie Whitehead
And
Author, Bernd Debusmann Jr
Role, White House correspondent
Published 6 minutes ago
Reading time: 3 minutes
US President Donald Trump's statement that Iran "could destroy" Los Angeles and San Diego sparked widespread anger from California politicians, along with a sharp response from the White House.
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned Trump's comment during an election rally in Nebraska, describing it as "unhinged and dangerous," while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described the comments as threats and an attempt to "encourage attacks on American lives."
However, the White House said that Trump meant that American cities would have been threatened by Iran had he not launched a war there earlier this year.
Both Los Angeles and San Diego are home to major US military installations, including naval ports and Air Force bases.
Speaking Monday in Nebraska about the conflict with Iran, Trump said: "This is a small price to pay to keep the world safe, to keep our country safe. They can destroy a city. Let them destroy Los Angeles, let them destroy San Diego."
Cheers erupted from some of the attendees when he made these comments about the two California cities.
The morning after Trump's statement, Governor Newsom declared that the "dangerous, if not disloyal" statement had prompted him to direct the California Threat Assessment Center to "monitor the situation in case foreign actors interpret these statements as an invitation to target California."
This body was established to monitor and prevent security threats in the state.
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San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote in a post on the X platform that the city is not “collateral damage,” calling on Trump to “keep it out of his reckless talk of war.”
Trump has not yet responded to the statements made by California leaders.
In a post on the X platform, White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung described what he called the “media panic” over Trump’s statements as “not based on reality.”
“He was clearly saying that American cities would have been threatened if nuclear Iran had not been stopped,” Cheung wrote. “America is safer thanks to the president. Iran has no nuclear program, no navy, no air power, and no money.”
The President and other administration officials often assert that disrupting Iran's nuclear program was necessary for American national security, and that any repercussions resulting from the conflict were necessary.
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In a separate post on X from the official White House Rapid Response account, Los Angeles Times journalists who wrote about the remarks were described as “clowns,” with a new rejection of the way Newsom and others described them.
The account added: “He was saying that the United States is fighting to prevent Iran from having the ability to destroy Los Angeles and San Diego with a nuclear weapon, which it would have done if it had the opportunity.”
San Diego is located 27 kilometers from the border with Mexico, and is the eighth largest city in the United States. It includes the Naval Base in San Diego, which is the main port for the US Navy’s Pacific fleet, in addition to the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, the main training center for the SEALs on the West Coast.
It also includes the US Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton base, where 70,000 military and civilian personnel work.
Los Angeles, located about 193 kilometers north of San Diego, is the second most populous city in the United States.
It includes the headquarters of the Space Systems Command of the US Space Force, in addition to the Los Angeles Air Force Base.
This is not the first time that the US President and the Governor of California, who may run for president in 2028, have confronted publicly.
