Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, who took down Osama bin Laden, advised President Donald Trump to “take a deep breath” and stop posting on social media after the president threatened to destroy the entire civilization of Iran on Tuesday, April 7.
O’Neill appeared on ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ where the former Navy SEAL reacted to Trump’s recent threats against Iran, including his threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
He said, “I went to Truth Social to see if they were actually posted. I didn’t think it was Presidential, and I know that it’s very difficult to be around President Trump and tell him something you disagree with.”
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O’Neill added that he knows Trump and has had dinner at the White House with him, but said that someone “should step up on something like this”.
“The optics are very important and you really can’t say you’re gonna wipe out an entire civilization,” the former Navy SEAL said.
He also added, “I mean, you’re already teetering on what rules the Geneva Convention has. If you’re hitting vital infrastructure for civilian survival, that’s against the Geneva Convention. You can’t do it.”
“Now, if it’s dual purpose, which a lot of these people do, you know, that’s for a lot of the higher-ups to decide, but I don’t think it’s proper to get on social media and say you’re gonna wipe out an entire civilization like that,” O’Neill further mentioned.
He also said that Trump is angry at NATO and his allies for not helping and added, “You need to take a deep breath and realize you’re the commander-in-chief of the military, you’re the leader of the free world, the most powerful man in the free world. Some things just shouldn’t be said even if you want to.”
Since the conflict between the United States and Iran escalated in February, the president has made Truth Social posts aimed at Iran.
In the Truth Social post, which O’Neill mentioned, Trump wrote, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.”
BREAKING: US President Trump says a ‘whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will’. pic.twitter.com/vJWjryzOH4
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 7, 2026
Meanwhile, in another similar post, he said, “Iran, which is being beat to hell, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack.”
Trump’s posts came during reported U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets, infrastructure threats, and a broader conflict involving Israel.
The POTUS has framed it as pressuring the regime while blessing the Iranian people and pushing for “regime change” through his rhetoric.
