President Donald Trump is teasing several “off ramps” from the joint U.S military strike with Israel on Iran Saturday, telling Axios in a brief phone interview he can end the conflict in mere days.
“I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians, ’See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs],’” the president said. “In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack.”
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The major combat operation, which the defense department calls “Operation Epic Fury,” received a mixed response from the GOP, with critics condemning the possibility of a foreign war and the lack of congressional approval.
Trump, who is floating the idea of regime change, justified the strike by claiming that Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program with plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S.
“My administration is taking every possible step to minimize the risk to U.S. personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump said in announcing the military strike.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission,” he continued.
The president told Axios that the military operation occurred in part due to failing negotiations held this week, which were led by real estate developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, over Iran’s nuclear program. The other main contributing factor was the country’s military conduct over the years, Trump told Axios.
“I saw that every month they did something bad, blew something up or killed someone,” he said.
The U.S military is preparing for the possibility of a weeks-long operation on Iran, according to two U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters.
However, Trump told Axios that the timeline of a planned U.S.-Israeli bombing operation, which would last at least five days, could change, with one factor being whether or not Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed.
As of Saturday afternoon, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were reporting that Khamenei was dead.
