President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the United States is ‘decimating’ Iran, as one of his advisors revealed that the war could last up to six weeks.
The commander-in-chief took to his Truth Social platform to extoll the United States’ strength in the ongoing war in Iran, which officially entered its third week on Saturday.
It may now drag on for at least another month, Kevin Hassett, the National Economic Council Director told CBS’ Face the Nation as he shared that the US has already spent $12 billion on the war effort.
‘One of the things that we’ve been briefed on almost every day is what’s going on and what the president is being briefed on with regard to the Iran war,’ he told host Margaret Brennan.
‘And as of yesterday, the message was that the Department of War believed that it would take four to six weeks to complete the mission and that we’re ahead of schedule.
‘So we are a couple of weeks in and I think that should give you some clarity about when we expect that the president will decide that we’ve achieved his objectives.’
In the meantime, President Trump insisted that the United States is destroying Iran as he accused the country’s leadership of lying about their successes.
‘Iran has long been known as a Master of Media Manipulation and Public Relations,’ he posted on his social media platform Sunday evening.
Kevin Hassett, the National Economic Council Director, said on Sunday that the war in Iran may last up to six weeks
Hassett said he is briefed every day on what the president is hearing about the war
‘They are militarily ineffective and weak, but are really good at “feeding” the very appreciative Fake News Media false information,’ he claimed.
‘Now AI has become another Disinformation weapon that Iran uses, quite well, considering they are being annihilated by the day.
‘They show phony “Kamikaze Boats” shooting at various Ships at Sea, which looks wonderful, powerful and vicious, but those Boats don’t exist – It’s all false information to show how “tough” their already defeated Military is!’
Trump then went on to conclude his lengthy post by writing: ‘The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they “win” are those they create through AI and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets.’
Thirteen brave US military servicemembers have died so far in connection with Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
Six people died this week when a US KC-135 plane went down in western Iraq, which authorities said was ‘friendly airspace’. The tragedy was not caused by ‘hostile fire.’
Trump’s latest comments came one day after the Iranian military struck an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire to erupt and operations to be suspended.
The depot exports more than 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, accounting for nearly two percent of the daily world demand.
The attack seemed to have been in retaliation for Trump’s claims that the United States ‘obliterated’ Iran’s Kharg Island.
‘Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,’ he wrote on his Truth Social page on Friday.
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How should the US balance military action with the risk of escalating conflict and civilian suffering in Iran?
President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the United States is ‘decimating’ Iran
The Iranian military struck an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire to erupt and operations to be suspended on Saturday
The depot exports more than 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, equivalent to nearly two percent of the daily world demand
In a move to try and take control of the Strait of Hormuz, he added: ‘Should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.’
The Iranian military responded to Trump’s threats, warning that oil and energy infrastructure owned by US-linked firms would ‘immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes’ if the United States struck its oil facilities, according to Iranian media.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also warned on Thursday that attacks on the islands on Iran’s southern maritime frontier would cause Iran to ‘abandon all restraint’, underscoring how central Kharg and its surrounding islands are to the country’s economy and security.
At the same time, Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.
President Trump has since urged world leaders to help escort oil tankers through the choke-point in the Gulf.
He called on ‘China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others’ to send ships to escort tankers, while the US military continues to pound drone, boat and missile launch sites in Iranian territory on the north shore of the strait.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. A tanker is seen in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz last week
More than 15,000 enemy targets have now been struck, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said as he sought to allay concerns about the Strait.
‘We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it,’ he said as Iran continued to fire missiles and drones against at least 10 countries.
The UN refugee agency now estimates that up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started, and as of Friday, at least 13 US soldiers have died in the conflict.
But Trump has said he is not ready to negotiate a ceasefire with the Iranian regime.
‘Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,’ the president told NBC News in a phone interview on Saturday evening.
He declined to specify what conditions Iran would need to meet but said any agreement would have to be ‘very solid,’ but suggested that getting Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions would likely be part of any future deal.
