Ankara: President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared that the US military campaign against Iran had crippled Tehran’s military and nuclear capabilities, warned of more strikes if Iran attacked again, and said he had little faith in further negotiations even as his envoys remained free to continue talks.
“The Iran war has been a tremendous military success,” Trump said at a news conference after the NATO summit in Ankara. “I was there for one reason — that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I call it, we denuclearised Iran. And that’s happened. They will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump said Iran’s military had been badly degraded.
“They have no military left,” he said. “Their air force is gone. Their ships are gone. One hundred and fifty-nine ships are gone. They’re at the bottom of the sea. Their radars are gone. Everything’s gone.”
He also claimed Iran’s leadership and missile capability had been severely hit.
“Their leaders are gone,” Trump said. “They had another set of leaders — they’re gone. Now they have another set of leaders. They may be gone. Who knows?”
Earlier, speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said Iran had resumed attacks after seeking a pause for funeral proceedings.
“We said, ‘Go and do your funeral stuff.’ And instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships yesterday,” Trump said. “And so we hit them very hard last night, very hard. I would say 20-to-1, 20 times tougher. And I told them, ‘Every time you hit, we hit.'”
During a later meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said Iran had asked for what he called a “time out.”
“They said to us, please don’t kill us during the funeral. I said I won’t. We didn’t. In fact, we made it safe for them, actually,” he said. “And they started shooting missiles.”
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said US forces targeted Iranian assets used to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Last night, as you said, a lot of small craft that they were trying to harass shipping with, so that was a big part of what we targeted,” Hegseth said.
He said the targets included “underground facilities where they were storing drones or missiles, coastal defence sites, radar sites, surveillance sites, anything used to harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Tonight, if we need to, on your order, Mr. President, we will hit even more,” Hegseth added.
Trump suggested Washington could again impose a maritime blockade.
“We put down the blockade, we may put it back, the blockade, and it’ll only be a blockade for Iran,” he said.
Asked whether the conflict was heading towards a full-scale resumption, Trump said he did not expect a prolonged war.
“I don’t think it’s going to start again,” he said. “I think it’s going to go very quickly.”
“When they hit, we hit ten times harder,” Trump said. “We’re not looking for long term.”
Trump said the United States was monitoring Iran’s nuclear sites from space.
“We have cameras, as an example, on the site,” he said. “That’s called Space Force.”
“We’re watching that, and if anybody goes there, they get blown up. So nobody’s going to touch that.”
Trump also cast doubt on diplomacy, saying the memorandum of understanding and ceasefire framework appeared finished in his view.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
He accused Iranian officials of negotiating in bad faith.
“They’re liars. We make a deal… Everyone’s agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press, they say, ‘We never even talked about it.'”
Still, Trump stopped short of formally shutting down talks.
“Steve is great, and Jared is great,” he said, referring to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “They’re the right guys. And we’ll see what happens.”
Rutte backed the US action, saying Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities had to be degraded.
“I think what you did last night was necessary,” Rutte said. “It was a very strong response.”
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, carrying a large share of global oil shipments. Any escalation there can quickly affect energy prices, shipping insurance and regional security calculations across the Gulf.
(IANS)
