WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States “continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran” and that the timeline of operations is projected to be four to five weeks.
The president provided an update on Operation Epic Fury to begin the Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
“Today, the United States military continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran to eliminate the grave threats posed to America by this terrible terrorist regime,” Trump said.
Trump said Iran “ignored” warnings not to continue the pursuit of nuclear weapons following the U.S. Strikes in June on Natanz, Fordow, and Esfahan in Operation Midnight Hammer.
“In addition, the regime’s conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas,” he said.
“The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America,” he added.
Trump said the missile program’s purpose was to “shield” Iran’s “nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden… nuclear weapons.”
Trump went on to note that the United States’ objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, destroy its navy, make sure that Iran never has nuclear weapons, and neutralize Iran’s ability to sponsor terrorism.
He emphasized America grieves the four servicemembers who were killed in action over recent days.
Trump stressed that his administration is “substantially ahead” of the initial four-to-five-week timeline projected for Operation Epic Fury before it began, and noted that the U.S. has the “capability to go far longer than that.”
“We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership, and as you know, that was done in about an hour, so we’re ahead of schedule there,” he said.
“But please join me in thanking every American service member who bravely is standing in harm’s way. They really are incredible,” he continued.
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