FACT FOCUS: False claims Trump made as he addressed the nation about Iran

FACT FOCUS: False claims Trump made as he addressed the nation about Iran President Donald Trump's address to the nation on the Iran war did not always hew to the facts By PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press , JON GAMBRELL Associated Press , and CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press April 1, 2026, 10:49 PM WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump mischaracterized core elements of the U.S. economy and stretched the facts in claiming to have toppled Iran’s government as he addressed the nation Wednesday night in a time of soaring gas prices and persistent inflation. Here's a look at some of his statements: CLAIM: “We were a dead and crippled country after the last administration and made it the hottest country anywhere in the world by far, with no inflation.’’ THE FACTS: This is a standard Trump claim. But the economy he inherited was far from weak. In 2024, the last year of Joe Biden's presidency, American gross domestic product grew 2.8%, adjusted for inflation, faster than any wealthy country in the world except Spain. It also expanded at a healthy rate from 2021 through 2023. Last year, in fact, U.S. economic growth decelerated under Trump to a still-respectable 2.1%, partly because the 43-day federal government shutdown slashed growth from October through December. Nor has inflation vanished. The Labor Department’s consumer price index was up 2.4% in February compared with a year earlier. It’s still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. CLAIM: “Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' death. They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable.” THE FACTS: Trump's depiction of the people now in charge in Iran, after scores of senior leaders were killed in the war, stretches credulity. Israel’s airstrike at the start of the war Feb. 28 killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran then installed his son, Mojtaba, who is viewed as even more hard-line, as supreme ...