President Donald Trump declared Monday that the Iran war will charge ahead and that the US has ordered 25 new B2 bombers and already struck 5,000 targets despite the Vice President’s skepticism.
Trump, 79, delivered a sweeping update on the Iran war from his Doral, Florida, golf resort after a weekend spent on the links in the Sunshine State.
The President told reporters that the Islamic Republican now has ‘no Navy’ with 46 of its ships sunk on the Gulf’s floor and off the shore of Sri Lanka. One of Operation Epic Fury’s key objectives was to wipe out the Navy, Trump has said.
He also said that Iran has ‘no air force,’ no radar or telecommunications, no anti-aircraft systems, and most importantly, no leadership. Iran’s military drone capacity is down to 25 percent and is soon expected to go to zero while the country’s missiles are mostly destroyed, he added.
But the country’s second in command, Vice President JD Vance, has been ‘less enthusiastic’ about the war, Trump admitted.
Vance, 41, a veteran of the Iraq war who has long had outspoken anti-interventionist views, is ‘philosophically a little bit different’ than the President, Trump shared.
‘We get along very well on this. He was, I would say, philosophically a little bit different than me. I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic.’
Trump quickly added: ‘But I thought it was something we had to do. I didn’t feel we had a choice.’
The President claimed that before the US struck Iran was attempting to take over the Middle East.
He also remarked how the Islamic Republic’s counterstrikes on Gulf nations was a critical mistake that has since driven the countries closer to the US.
The President did not indicate how long the war could continue, remaining ambiguous about future US military operations in the region.
‘We could call it a tremendous success right now … or we could go further, and we’re going to go further,’ he said.
For the first time the president was quizzed on reports about a girls school in Tehran reportedly being hit with a US-made Tomahawk missile, killing at least 170.
‘Just don’t know enough about it. I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation, but Tomahawks are used by others,’ Trump said, trying to point out how Tomahawks are sold to other countries.
‘But I will certainly – whatever the report shows – I’m willing to live with that report,’ he said. Democrats in Congress have called for an investigation into the tragedy.
Earlier in the day Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the two discussed the Iran war and Ukrainian invasion.
The Republican said the Russian wanted to be ‘helpful’ with regards to Iran, but real ‘hatred’ remains between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – both of whom Trump has been corresponding with to end the war, now in its fourth year.
‘We obviously talked about the Middle East, and he wants to be helpful,’ Trump said of the call with Putin at the press conference.
The stock market clawed back from a brutal session after Trump’s remarks, with US oil plunging to $86 per barrel from $91 after he floated a takeover of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Dow closed up 200 points after dropping nearly 900 points at its session low, while the S&P jumped 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq rebounded to 1.4 percent after crashing by as much as 1.5 percent.