Trump Says Iran Attacks Running Ahead of Schedule

President Trump says American forces are ahead of schedule with military operations against the Iranian regime. “We will easily prevail,” Mr. Trump said at the White House on Monday morning in his first public comments since joint Israeli-American attacks were first launched on Saturday.Mr. Trump laid out a series of objectives for the operation. He said that first on the list was destroying Iran’s missile capabilities. He claimed that Iran was nearing the ability to deploy missiles that could reach American soil. “This was our last best chance to strike,” Mr. Trump said.Mr. Trump said destroying Iran’s Navy is also a priority of the operation, which has been dubbed Operation Epic Fury. “We’ve knocked out, already, ten ships,” Mr. Trump said.“We’re ensuring that the world’s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Trump said. The final goal, he added, was to ensure the regime cannot continue to “arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside their borders.”Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, during an earlier Pentagon briefing, declined to put a timeline on American military operations against Iran but is calling the mission for American forces crystal-clear — “We are hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly and unapologetically,” he says.Mr. Hegseth added that there are currently no American troops in Iran but didn’t rule out the possibility they might be at some point. “President Trump ensures that our enemies understand we’ll go as far as we need to go to advance American interests,” Mr. Hegseth said.“This is not a so-called ‘regime change war’ but the regime sure did change,” he added. “And the world is better off for it.” Mr. Hegseth says the Trump Administration will not engage in a “nation-building quagmire” in Iran.Mr. Hegseth criticized a reporter who asked about future operations. “Going forward, why would we tell you, the enemy, anybody what we will and will not do in pursuit of the objective?”The initial attacks against Iran were aimed to “daze and confuse” Iranian forces and leadership, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine said during the same briefing.General Caine said American intelligence enabled Israel to carry out the attack that killed the Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He added that cyberattacks were used ahead of the attacks to knock out key systems in Iran and sow confusion.General Caine would not specify how many American forces were involved in the operation but said more forces were being deployed on Monday. “I think we’re just about where we want to be in terms of total combat capacity and total combat power,” General Caine said.The Pentagon confirmed on Monday that a fourth American troop died from Iranian attacks over the weekend.In other developments, Iranian media say Khamenei’s wife died on Monday. Mansoureh Khojasteh had been in a coma since Saturday’s attack, according to the Associated Press.Israeli and American forces continued strikes on Iran on Monday, including Tehran. Israeli forces also continued strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The IDF said one strike killed the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence arm. Islamic Jihad said the commander of its military wing in Lebanon was killed in an airstrike in Beirut, the New York Times reported.Qatar said it shot down two Iranian Su-24 jets, successfully intercepted seven ballistic missiles and five drones.President Vladimir Putin is offering to step in to help stabilize the situation in the region. Russia is an ally of the regime and has relied on Iranian drones and missiles for use in Ukraine. Mr. Putin had calls on Monday with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain.Mr. Putin referred to the joint Israeli and American attacks on Iran a “flagrant violation of international law,” according to the Kremlin.Energy prices also spiked on Monday over concerns about supply disruptions due to the war. Europe is a major importer of oil and gas.The European Commission says it is reinforcing monitoring of disruption risks, notably around the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. In a statement on Monday, the commission said it is closely tracking price and supply developments. It added that it will convene an energy task force this week.

Trump Says Iran Attacks Running Ahead of Schedule

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