(AFP) – President Donald Trump signaled Monday that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted, as his administration sought to counter criticism about conflicting messages on the war’s goals. In his first public comments since launching the military operation, the president who long campaigned for “no new wars” laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran.
Trump also said that the timeframe he initially gave could drag out, raising fears among right-wing supporters in particular of a return to the Middle Eastern entanglements he once opposed. “From the beginning we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that,” Trump said at the start of a medal presentation event at the White House. However, he stated that the United States was “substantially ahead of our time projections,” citing the killing of Iran’s top leadership in the initial wave of strikes on Saturday.
The US president for the first time clearly laid out four explicit goals for Operation Epic Fury, saying it was the “last, best chance” to hit Washington’s decades-long arch-foe. “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities… Second, we’re annihilating their navy… Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number-one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Finally, we are ensuring the Iranian regime can’t continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”
Trump had previously made different and sometimes contradictory comments on the conflict in a series of telephone interviews since the strikes began on Saturday. He refused to rule out sending US troops into Iran in an interview with the New York Post on Monday, a move that could risk far higher casualties than the four service members killed so far. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,” Trump said, using a golf term for anxiety. “Every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it.”
Trump also spoke to CNN on Monday, flagging what he said would be an escalation in the assault on Iran. “The big wave hasn’t even happened,” he said. “The big one is coming soon.” The 79-year-old Republican’s avoidance of any major national address or press conference at the start of the US strikes is a significant break from previous presidents. In public, Trump had been completely silent until Monday’s brief remarks at the Medal of Honor ceremony. His only previous comments came in a video posted on his Truth Social network on Saturday announcing the strikes and a follow-up video on Sunday.
The rest of his administration was also silent until a press conference by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and top US military officer Dan Caine on Monday morning. Trump’s virtual silence on the justifications and goals had sparked criticism from members of his Make America Great Again movement, who bought into his pledges of an end to foreign wars. However, the White House has been trying to straighten out its messaging over the past 24 hours. Replying to one MAGA critic on social media, Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump had laid out “clear objectives.”
US and Israeli forces have so far struck hundreds of targets across Iran, including the Islamic republic’s missiles, navy, and command-and-control sites. Hegseth also signaled Monday that deploying troops inside Iran had not been ruled out. Asked if there were already boots on the ground, Hegseth told the news conference: “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.” Nonetheless, he insisted it would not drag on like past long-running US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” said Hegseth, an Iraq veteran.
As for how long the war will last, Hegseth stated: “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, it could move up. It could move back.” Some analysts have wondered if the United States, even with the world’s most powerful military, has enough ammunition to carry out such a long war against a determined foe.
– Danny KEMP and W.G. Dunlop
© 2024 AFP
