President Donald Trump gave his first public remarks about the U.S. military action against Iran after launching massive strikes over the weekend that killed the country’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the White House on Monday at an award ceremony for three Medal of Honor recipients, Trump laid out the administration’s justification for the strikes beyond ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which was the primary rationale given ahead of the operation.
“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,” Trump said.
“Right from the beginning we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that,” he said. “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 by a lot.”
Trump said that allied countries wanted to end Iran’s nuclear program but “they just didn’t have the courage to say so” or act on it.
The reasons Trump laid out for the strikes included eliminating Iran’s leadership, destroying the country’s nuclear program, and targeting the country’s navy.
Trump spoke about the four American service members who lost their lives in counterstrikes by Iran.
“Today we grieve for the four heroic American service members who have been killed in action, and send our love and support to their families in their memory,” Trump said.
Trump did not take questions from the media during the ceremony.
Trump speaks directly to several reporters
While these were Trump’s first public remarks, he spoke to several reporters from cable networks and publications over the weekend.
The president confirmed to the New York Post that he wouldn’t rule out sending U.S. troops on the ground into Iran.
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it," Trump told the outlet. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if they were necessary.’”
Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the U.S. hasn’t “even started hitting them hard” and the “big wave hasn’t even happened.” “The big one is coming soon,” he said.
The U.S., he said, is “knocking the crap out of Iran.”
He also told Fox News’s Bret Baier that 49 of Iran’s top leaders had been killed in the operation so far. Baier said Trump believes the operation is going faster than originally planed, which is why the possible four-week timeline has not been set in stone.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the weekend strikes against Iran was part of a decades-long conflict and the Trump administration was not starting a war, but was rather ending one.
Hegseth also noted that the timeline for the conflict is not known. The situation in the region is quickly developing and changing at nearly every hour.
“President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks,” he said. “It could move up. It could move back. We’re going to execute at his command.”
While the president put together videos about the operation that were posted online over the weekend, the media action and speech in the East Room is essentially the first time since the strikes began where he could make his case for the military action to the American people.
The ceremony Monday honored three Army soldiers for their military efforts. Two of them were awarded posthumously.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson was recognized for his actions during the Vietnam War, credited for saving 85 other soldiers. Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2013, is being recognized for his actions during combat that led to his death. Master Sgt. Roderick W. Edmonds, who died in 1985, was recognized for his leadership and resistance as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, the Associated Press reported.