Trump says ‘we protect our cities’ after saying Iran could ‘take out’ Los Angeles or San Diego

US president Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to clean up incendiary comments he made earlier this week, when he said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego.

Trump’s original remarks, made at a campaign rally in Nebraska, seemed to refer to what would happen if Iran had a nuclear weapon.

“They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” Trump said Monday to cheers from the crowd.

He recast those remarks Wednesday night at a rally in San Antonio as he tried to explain the Iran war, saying he had “no choice” if the U.S. were to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“You want to see problems? And I said it the other day: Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. Let them hit. You want to see a horror show? You want to see problems?”

“Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen. You want to see a country that would be in free fall?”

This time, however, he added: “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We’re not letting that happen.”