Washington: The White House said that US military operations against Iran are rapidly achieving their objectives, as President Donald Trump simultaneously pushes to expand American weapons production and considers the future political leadership of Iran.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that the ongoing military campaign — dubbed Operation Epic Fury — is progressing quickly and could meet its goals within weeks.
“What I will tell you is what President Trump has already laid out, which is that the achievable objectives of Operation Epic Fury we expect to last about four to six weeks, and we are well on our way to achieving those objectives,” she told reporters.
Leavitt said the United States has already inflicted major damage on Iran’s military capability, particularly its naval forces.
“Annihilating Iran’s Navy, we know that we’ve sunk more than 30 Iranian vessels and ships. Their Navy has now been deemed combat ineffective,” she said.
According to the White House, the operation is also aimed at eliminating the ballistic missile threat posed by Iran to US troops and bases in the region.
“Taking out the ballistic missile threat that Iran posed to the United States and our troops and bases in the region. We have done a tremendous job,” Leavitt said.
She added that the results were already visible on the battlefield.
“Just six days in the retaliatory ballistic missile strikes from Iran are now down 90 per cent,” she said.
The press secretary also said Iranian-backed proxy groups have not mounted a significant response.
“We’ve seen Hezbollah and the Houthis hardly putting up a fight over the course of the last six days,” she said.
Leavitt stressed that the broader objective of the operation is to remove the threat Iran poses to the United States and its allies.
“Ultimately, the president has made it very clear, he wants to take out the threat of Iran to the United States, and Operation Epic Fury is well on its way to doing that,” she said.
She also elaborated on Trump’s remarks about Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” saying the term refers to a point when Tehran no longer poses a threat to the United States.
“What the President means is that when he, as commander in chief of the US Armed Forces, determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America and the goals of Operation Epic Fury have been fully realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender,” she said.
Leavitt suggested that the Iranian leadership structure has already been severely weakened.
“They don’t have a lot of people to say that for them because the United States and the state of Israel have completely wiped out nearly more than 50 leaders of the former terrorist regime,” she said.
Asked about Iran’s political future, Leavitt said US intelligence agencies are evaluating possible leadership scenarios in the country.
“I know there’s a number of people that intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at, but I won’t get any further,” she said.
She also downplayed reports that Russia may be providing intelligence support to Iran, saying the battlefield situation shows the US military remains firmly in control.
“It clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them,” she said.
The press secretary also confirmed that Trump was scheduled to meet defense contractors at the White House later in the day to discuss increasing US weapons production capacity.
She said the meeting was intended to reinforce the administration’s “aggressive and fierce support for rapidly increasing the ability of US manufacturers to produce American-made weapons.”
(IANS)
