WASHINGTON, United States, Feb 25, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday of a "turnaround for the ages" in a State of the Union speech, seeking to reverse his dismal polls and see off mounting challenges at home and abroad ahead of crucial midterm elections.

Addressing a joint session of Congress, Trump met repeated standing ovations from Republicans, while Democrats remained seated in protest -- and sometimes heckled.

As US naval and air forces massed in the Middle East, Trump claimed Iran was seeking missiles able to hit US territory but said his "preference" was for a diplomatic solution.

Trump began by painting an optimistic picture, declaring America was "bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before."

"Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages," Trump said.

The 79-year-old hopes the primetime speech, broadcast across all major networks, will help him to sell that message to voters after a deeply divisive first year back in power.

Underwater in opinion polls, Trump fears his Republican Party will lose control over Congress in the November midterms, paralyzing the rest of his second term and exposing him to a possible third impeachment.

He sought to seize on national enthusiasm over Team USA's gold medal winning Olympic ice hockey performance by inviting the players to join him on the floor of the Chamber to massive cheers and chants of "USA."

He then announced he was awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest civilian honor -- to the team's goalie.

And he handed Medals of Honor -- the highest military award -- to a helicopter pilot wounded in January's attack to topple the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and also to a 100-year-old Korean War veteran.

But at about the hour mark in what became a record-long State of the Union speech, Trump resumed his customary dark rhetoric against opponents and undocumented immigrants.

The New York Times said at least 40 Democratic lawmakers were boycotting the speech.

- Iran's 'sinister nuclear ambitions' -

Trump claimed that Iran is seeking missiles that could reach the United States and repeated his insistence that the country would never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon.

Iranians, he said, "are at this moment again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions."

But Trump left the door open for a peaceful resolution, noting that negotiations were continuing and said "my preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy."

He boasted that Venezuela was now shipping oil to the United States, and celebrated the killing of a Mexican narco kingpin.

- Trump lashes out -

Trump became more aggressive midway through the speech, claiming Democrats "are destroying our country" and that Somali "pirates" had "ransacked" Minnesota.

The president told Congress to pass a law imposing additional ID requirements for Americans to vote, pushing his unprecedented and false claims that US elections suffer from "rampant" cheating.

Opponents to the proposed law say the stringent requirements for more documents would result in shutting huge numbers of legal voters from the polls.

The battle over the right to vote comes as Republicans are trying to avoid losing their narrow majority in the House of Representatives -- and potentially the Senate.

A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll published on Sunday showed Trump's approval rating at a lowly 39 percent. Only 41 percent approved of his handling of the economy overall, and just 32 percent on inflation.

He has been battered by a series of blows, most recently with the Supreme Court's striking down of his use of coercive trade tariffs against countries all over the world.

Trump, who earlier branded the court's justices "fools and lapdogs" over the tariff ruling, briefly shook hands with several of the justices in attendance but went on in his speech to declare their ruling "very unfortunate."

The billionaire has also been rocked by a backlash by the killing of two US citizens in immigration raids in Minneapolis and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.