[ad_1]
President Donald Trump said Iran’s military forces have been “knocked out” after four days of strikes from the U.S. and Israel.
“[Iran] has no navy, it’s been knocked out. They have no air force, that’s been knocked out. They have no air detection, that’s been knocked out,” he claimed. “Their radar has been knocked out. Just about everything’s been knocked out.”
The U.S. President delivered the assessment of the war, which he described as “coming along very well,” during a press conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office Tuesday.
Iran strikes renew debate over presidential war powers
“They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left, and so they’re going to be in for a lot of hurt,” he continued.
Heralding the military operation which resulted in the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Trump suggested that some within the surviving Iranian leadership want to lay down arms.
“A lot of people are coming forward. A lot of the people, you would least suspect, want to quit. They’re asking for immunity, and probably at some point they’ll be dropping, as you would say, laying down their guns. We’ll see what happens,” he claimed.
Iran has offered no public indication that it is ready to lay down arms, and has continued launching retaliatory strikes against Gulf states.
Trump was then asked by reporters if Israel had forced the hand of the U.S. to launch military action against Iran early Saturday—a circulating theory the President was quick to refute.
“No, I might have forced their hand. It was my opinion that they [Iran] were going to attack first… If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that,” he said, arguing the U.S. operation was launched as a pre-emptive measure. “Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a very, very powerful impact.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said the U.S. was…
[ad_2]
