President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back its planned joint exercises with South Korea following their declining to help the U.S. in its efforts to denuclearize Iran. 

The announcement by President Trump comes just before the start of one of two annual joint exercises, or military drills, between South Korean and U.S. troops. The 11-day exercises are meant to strengthen their readiness against North Korean threats, according to the Associated Press. 

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, in which he made it clear that it was too late to cancel the joint exercise, but that he was instructing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”