White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday there has been no change to the timeline of Operation Epic Fury in Iran, which has now entered its fifth week.
On March 3, President Donald Trump said the timeline for the war was four to six weeks. Leavitt told reporters at Monday’s White House press briefing that the original timeline remains, as Trump reportedly weighs options that could include boots on the ground and as the administration says negotiations with Iran to potentially bring the war to a close are ongoing.
“With respect to the timeline, again, the president, commander-in-chief, the Pentagon has always stated a four to six week estimated timeline for Operation Epic Fury. We’re on day 30 today,” Leavitt said when asked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly saying Friday it could last another two to four weeks.
“So again, you do the math on how much longer the Pentagon needs to fully achieve the objectives of Operation Epic Fury, which I will reiterate: destroy the Iranian Navy, destroy their ballistic missiles, dismantle their missile and drone production infrastructure, significantly weaken their proxies throughout the course of this operation, and then, of course, preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Leavitt added.
When another reporter asked about the timeline, Leavitt said that the original timeline remains.
“I think we should all be very proud of our armed forces for what they have done over the past 30 days,” she said. “The mission will continue until the objectives are achieved, and that 4-6 week timeline does remain right now. I don’t have any updates for you on that.”
Leavitt’s comments on Monday came as Trump reportedly weighs a potential operation to seize close to 1,000 pounds of Iranian uranium, as Breitbart News noted:
President Donald Trump is seriously weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Iran, insisting Tehran must surrender what he called the regime’s “nuclear dust” or face annihilation, according to a report published Sunday night.
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump has not made a final decision, but remains open to a risky mission that could place American forces inside Iran for days or longer to secure material he has made clear Tehran cannot be allowed to keep.
Trump reinforced that position hours later aboard Air Force One, warning that Iran must do what the United States demands or “they’re not going to have a country.” Referring to the uranium, he added, “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.”
Per the Journal, Trump has urged advisers to push Iran to hand over the uranium as part of negotiations to potentially end the war. On Friday, the president put in place a 10-day halt on U.S. strikes on Iranian energy plants as negotiations take place.
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