Make New York Post a Preferred Source ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY — President Trump claimed an Iran war victory and dedicated his forthcoming memorial arch to the members of the military during a Tuesday visit to Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute to the nation’s veterans.
“To every veteran here at Arlington and across the nation, we offer our highest salute,” the president said, praising them as a “guiding light” to the nation.
He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, saluting those who died for the country.
His Veterans Day speech was a tribute but also featured a warning to internal enemies.
Trump didn’t directly mention the incoming Democratic majority on Capitol Hill, who are threatening to subpoena and jail members of his administration and his family, but was clearly speaking of them when he warned against those who would damage the US with their “horrible ideology.”
“We’re not going to allow anyone to hurt or damage our country with bad foolish horrible ideology. We’re not going to let it happen. And everyone knows what I mean,” the president said.
The fighting words come as his White House counsel sent a warning to the incoming chairman of the House Oversight committee — all part of new chief of staff Stephen Miller’s aggressive approach to the changing power dynamics in Washington.
Trump also acknowledged the memorial arch he wants to build on a circle of land between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
“We’re going to dedicate a magnificent triumphal arch to our veterans,” he said. “They’ve been waiting for it for 200 years.”
His confidence came as nine family members of the Kennedy political dynasty asked a judge Tuesday to block the president’s plan to build the towering memorial arch, saying the 250-foot structure would cast a shadow over their relatives’ gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery.
The arch faces multiple lawsuits and a federal judge has put a hold on construction as they make their way through the legal process.
The president also acknowledged the country’s current conflict: The war with Iran.
He offered special thanks to those veterans “working to ensure the world’s number one sponsor of state terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never have a nuclear weapon.”
“We won,” he said of Iran. “It’s just a question of when we end it. I want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 percent victory.”
The president, on Monday, said that the Iran war “is effectively over” militarily but that he will maintain the “status quo” of isolating Tehran economically, including with a naval blockade and a newly announced initiative to sever overland trading routes.
That strategy will ensure American allies in the region don’t get hurt, he explained.
President Trump was joined by first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Vance for the national holiday. Veterans Secretary Doug Collins acted as host.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who just survived an attempt by the House of Representatives to impeach him, had a front row seat. Collins gave him a fist bump and Trump paid tribute to him, garnering loud cheers from the crowd of veterans.
“I had a feeling that would happen,” Trump said of the response. “He’s done a fantastic job. He loves you and protects you.”
The president also paid tribute to some of the veterans in the crowd, including 103-year-old WWII Army veteran Jack Myers, who got loud cheers and a standing ovation. Myers is from Hagerstown, Maryland, and recognized as the last known surviving veteran of the U.S. Army’s 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion.
