Trump is seeking to justify the war on Iran in front of US public opinion
US President Donald Trump on Sunday sought to justify military action against Iran by pointing to the need to ensure long-term US security, vowing revenge for the three US military dead and warning that the number would rise.
In a video address from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump said: “Unfortunately, there are likely to be more casualties before it’s over… But America will avenge their deaths and deal the harshest blow to the terrorists who have waged war, essentially, against civilization”.
Trump hasn’t addressed the nation directly since the war against Iran began on Saturday, but he has posted two video messages, announced the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Truth Social and conducted phone interviews with journalists.
Trump didn’t speak to reporters on the presidential plane as he returned to Washington from Florida.
Trump said he expected the attack on Iran to last four weeks or less.
In one of a series of interviews on Sunday, Trump said, “We have concluded that (the attack) will lasts four weeks or so”.
“Despite the strength of the attack, Iran remains a big country, so it will take four weeks, or less”, he said.
Meanwhile, he was quoted in an interview with Fox News as saying, “No one can believe the success we’re having; we’ve eliminated 48 leaders at once… Things are moving very fast”.
In a statement to NBC shortly after the Pentagon announced that three US personnel were killed in the military operation against Iran, Trump said: “We’ve three dead, but we expect casualties, but in the end the result will be great for the world”.
“We’re undertaking this huge operation not only to ensure security for the time being, but also for our children and our grandchildren’s children,” he said.
“These measures are necessary to ensure that Americans do not have to confront an extremist, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons and many threats,” he said.
Trump later wrote on Truth Social: “I’ve just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk nine Iranian military ships, some of which are large and significant”.
“We’ll target the rest, and soon they will be floating in the deep sea as well! In another attack, we have largely destroyed their naval headquarters,” he said sarcastically, adding, “Otherwise, their freedom is at best!”
The US president said on Sunday he would hold talks with Iranian leaders, but didn’t give a date.
“They want dialogue, and I agreed to that, so I’m going to have conversations with them,” Trump was quoted as saying by The Atlantic… They should have done it sooner,” but “most of these people are gone”.
In an interview with CNBC, Trump said, “We’re doing our job not just for ourselves but for the world”.
