U.S. President Donald Trump does not rule out that American ground forces could be deployed in Iran. At the same time, he claims that the ongoing military operation together with Israel is already progressing significantly faster than planned.
According to the president, the operation, named Operation Epic Fury, has already targeted a large number of high-ranking officials in Tehran. Trump states that 49 leading figures have been killed.
“It will move quite quickly,” Trump assures, claiming they are “well ahead of schedule when it comes to the leadership.”
“49 killed—and it was estimated to take at least four weeks, and we did it in a day.”
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At the same time, he claims that it could take 4-5 weeks or significantly longer. He is open to that and does not exclude taking the war to the next level.
In his statements on Monday, Donald Trump notably did not rule out the possibility of deploying American ground troops in Iran, much like in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is despite the fact that he previously had been a harsh critic of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama for their military actions as presidents—something he himself had long promised to avoid.
“I don’t get cold feet when it comes to ground troops. Every president says there will never be ground troops, I won’t say that. But it probably won’t be necessary,” Trump told the New York Post.
The American president believes that the timing is right to go all the way in Iran.
“This was our last, best chance to strike and eliminate unacceptable threats posed by this sick and evil regime.”
The president also says that he is not particularly concerned about the risk of Iranian terrorist attacks in response to the U.S. actions.
“We will take it out. Whatever happens. Like anything else, we will take it out.”
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Trump states that the final decision on the attack was made after talks in Geneva on Thursday. According to him, it was partly about intelligence showing that Iran had secretly resumed work related to nuclear weapons.
“We had very serious negotiations, and they were there, and then they pulled out.”
Watch Trump comment on the ongoing operation in Iran during the medal ceremony.
Weak support in opinion polls
The president emphasizes that he believes he has done the right thing with the attacks and claims that support among Americans is strong, despite early polls indicating otherwise.
A poll from Reuters/Ipsos shows that 27 percent of Americans support the attacks, while 43 percent oppose them and 29 percent are unsure. Trump, however, dismisses the significance of the numbers.
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“I think the polls are very good, but I don’t care about polls. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” he said, even though he has previously criticized his presidential peers.
Criticized Obama for Iran focus
On social media, several older posts by Donald Trump have resurfaced, where he harshly criticized Barack Obama and warned that the then-president might attack Iran.
