President Trump confirmed Monday night that he was “not happy” with the choice of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his late father as supreme leader of Iran, claiming in an interview that “I don’t believe he can live in peace.”
Trump also told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst that his understanding was that the Tehran government “want to talk badly” about ending the US-Israel war, which entered its 11th day Tuesday.
“It’s possible, depends on what terms, possible, only possible,” Trump told Yingst while aboard Air Force One en route to Washington from Miami. “You know, we sort of don’t have to speak anymore, you know, if you really think about it, but it’s possible.”
Hours earlier, the president had given a glowing assessment of Operation Epic Fury to reporters at his Trump National Doral Miami golf club.
“They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft equipment, it’s all been blown up,” the president said of Iran’s military strength. “They have no radar. They have no telecommunications, and they have no leadership. It’s all gone.
“So, you know, you could look at that statement. We could, we could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here. I could call it, or we could go further and we’re going to go further.”
The president defended the timing of the operation, which began Feb. 28, telling Yingst that “if we had waited three days, I believe we would have been attacked” by Iran.
“When we attacked them first, we knocked out 50% of their missiles, and if we didn’t, it would have been a much harder fight,” said Trump, adding: “No other president had the guts to do it … I didn’t want some president who hasn’t got the courage in five years or ten years to go in.”
The commander in chief confirmed that he was told last month by special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner that Iranian officials had claimed to have enough enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs.
“I said, ‘You know, they’re not playing this smart. Because they’re basically saying that I have to attack them,’” Trump told Fox News. “They should have just said, ‘We’re not going to build a nuclear missile.’”
According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), American forces have hit more than 5,000 targets in the first 10 days of Operation Epic Fury, including more than 50 Iranian ships that have been recorded as damaged or destroyed.
In his remarks to reporters Monday evening, Trump indicated that “we’ve left some of the most important targets for later in case we need to do it. If we hit them, it’s going to take many years for them to be rebuilt.”
The president clarified that those targets are related to “electricity production and many other things, so we’re not looking to do that if we don’t have to. But they’re the kind of things that are very easy to hit but very devastating if they are hit.
“We are waiting to see what happens before we hit them. We could take them all out in one day.”
