Viewers Hear Giggle as Trump Calls C-SPAN Live; He Then Warns of Iran Strike 'Five Times Bigger'

Viewers heard someone giggling in the background as Donald Trump joined C-SPAN live on Monday night, US time. Seven minutes later, the president said another US strike on Iran could be five times bigger than the first.

The laughter came as host Mimi Geerges announced, 'It looks like we've got a call from the White House.' One X user asked, 'Is that... Natalie giggling in the background?', apparently meaning Trump's aide Natalie Harp. Who laughed has not been confirmed.

He was calling to congratulate C-SPAN on the 9 November debut of Washington Journal Primetime.

Gulf Neighbours and Pickaxe Mountain

Asked how long the Iran war, now in its ninth month, would last, Trump said, 'It depends. We could knock it out fast.'

'The reason I'm doing it this way is the prime minister was in the Oval Office today,' he said, adding that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain 'would rather do it this way rather than another hit which would approximately be five times bigger than the first one.' He did not say which earlier strike.

Qatar's prime minister, a key mediator with Tehran, had met Trump that day.

'I can tell you that Iran would like to do a deal,' Trump said. Iran's peace plan, repeatedly defended by its Foreign Ministry, requires the US to lift its blockade of Iranian ports.

He also named Pickaxe Mountain, a tunnel complex about 1.5 to 2 kilometres (about a mile) south of the Natanz enrichment site that US B-2 bombers struck in June 2025. 'We may have to hit Pickaxe Mountain,' he said. US and Israeli officials suspect Iran moved centrifuges there after those strikes. Iran denies any nuclear activity at the site.

Trump on Hegseth: 'Pete Has Won Two Wars'

Geerges said a House vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 'could come as early as tomorrow' and asked for Trump's reaction if Republicans backed it. 'I would be disappointed. Pete has won two wars,' he replied, citing Iran and Venezuela, which he claimed was won 'in 48 minutes. Let's say one day.'

Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who lost his primary in May, reintroduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday, accusing Hegseth of waging the Iran war unconstitutionally and ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties. Hegseth, who has called Massie a 'disgruntled, defeated congressman', said on Monday, 'We're not worried about that.'

Several Republicans blame the war for losing both chambers in the 3 November midterms. Until the new Congress sits in January, they hold a narrow 218-214 House majority, so a few defections could pass it. Removal needs two-thirds of the Senate.

On Venezuela, where US forces captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in January, Trump said, 'They gave us a million barrels of oil for free as a sign of friendship.' The oil's producer, North American Blue Energy Partners, said those barrels cost taxpayers nothing. Washington can buy 20 per cent of its output at cost.

On immigration, Trump said, 'We have gone now 17 months without one person coming in illegally through the border.' Homeland Security reports 17 straight months of zero Border Patrol releases, and a preliminary 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in the year to September.

Asked whether long-settled workers he discussed on 60 Minutes would still be deported, Trump said, 'We have not put the same pressure on waitresses and on farmworkers, etc., not even close.'