President Donald Trump declared Monday that Iran’s military has been “literally obliterated” by the U.S.-led Operation Epic Fury campaign, while revealing that Iranian officials have been reaching out seeking a deal even as he questioned whether those making contact actually have the authority to negotiate on behalf of a regime whose leadership he says has been largely wiped out.
Speaking to reporters ahead of a meeting with the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, Trump said weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes have shattered the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities.
“They have been literally obliterated,” Trump said. “The Air Force is gone. The Navy is gone. Many ships have been sunk. Their anti-aircraft is decimated, their radar is gone, and their leaders are gone.”
Trump said the campaign has struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran, crippling Tehran’s ability to project force across the region.
“We’ve achieved a 90 percent reduction in ballistic missile launches and a 95 percent reduction in drone attacks,” Trump said, adding that Iranian missiles are now “trickling in at very low levels because they don’t have too many missiles left.”
He said the campaign has also targeted Iran’s military production network in an effort to dismantle its missile and drone programs.
“We just hit three of them today,” Trump said of facilities producing missiles and drones. “It’s getting very hard for them to manufacture.”
Iran’s naval capabilities — long used to threaten commercial shipping and regional security — have also been severely degraded, he added.
“More than 100 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk or destroyed over the last week and a half,” Trump said. “That has to be some kind of a record.”
Trump also pointed to the recent strike on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub and a central pillar of the regime’s economic lifeline.
“We attacked Kharg Island and literally destroyed everything on the island except the area where the oil is,” Trump said. “I call it the pipes.”
The president said the United States deliberately spared the island’s oil infrastructure for now.
“But we can take that out on five minutes’ notice,” Trump warned. “Just one word and the pipes will be gone.”
Trump said Iranian officials have been reaching out seeking a possible deal, though he indicated the United States remains skeptical about whether those making contact actually have the authority to negotiate.
“They want to make a deal. They’re talking to our people,” Trump said. “I don’t know if they’re ready yet. They’re taking a pounding.”
He suggested the outreach comes amid deep uncertainty inside the regime following repeated strikes on senior leadership figures.
“We don’t even know who their leaders are,” Trump said. “The first group was all dead. The second group met to pick a leader and the second group got knocked out.”
“Then a third group met,” Trump said. “But we don’t know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate — we have no idea who they are.”
Trump also questioned whether Iran’s newly installed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei — who has not appeared publicly since assuming power — is even alive.
“A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured. They’re saying he lost his leg,” Trump said. “Other people are saying he’s dead.”
“Nobody’s saying he’s 100 percent healthy,” he added. “And we haven’t seen him at all.”
“We don’t know if he’s dead or not.”
Trump argued the campaign has rapidly transformed Iran from a long-standing regional threat into a far weaker adversary.
“This is a paper tiger that we’re dealing with now,” Trump said. “It wasn’t a paper tiger two weeks ago. It’s a paper tiger now.”
Still, Trump warned that the United States will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.
“You cannot let the most violent country in the last 50 years have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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