President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury in Iran is “two weeks ahead of schedule,” and the United States now wants to “clean up some ends.”
CBS News’s Weijia Jiang called the president Tuesday morning.
“We are ahead of schedule actually, in terms of what we have done. They’ve got no military might anymore. They are down on everything they had. They’re a mess. I would say we are two weeks ahead of schedule,” he said when asked when the war would end.
He told her there is “not much” between where Operation Epic Fury stands and the point of declaring victory.
“We want to clean up some ends…We’ve had total regime change. These are different people than anyone has ever heard of before, and frankly they’ve been more reasonable,” he told her. “So, we’ve had total regime change beyond what anyone thought possible. It’s a big factor.”
With Operation Epic Fury in its fifth week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the original four-to-six week timeline remains in place. April 9 would mark the end of six weeks.
When asked if declaring victory is contingent on removing enriched uranium from Iran, Trump told Jiang, “I don’t even think about it.”
I just know that, you know, that’s so deeply buried it’s gonna be very hard for anybody. And we – we’ve watched it for – you know, since the attack, we’ve watched it. And at least I think finally people admit it was obliteration. It’s down there deep. And they haven’t been able to do it. You know, even without a war they haven’t been able to do it. So it’s pretty – it’s pretty – it’s pretty safe. But, you know, we’ll make a determination.”
Jiang shared that she called Trump on the heels of his post calling on countries that depend on the Strait of Hormuz for energy to “take” the strait. The president wrote in his post:
All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!
Jiang said that Trump told her he is not pulling assets from the Strait yet, though he will eventually.
“At some point I will, not quite yet, but countries have to come in and take care of it. Iran has been decimated, but they’re going to have to come in and do their own work,” he said, adding there is no longer a “real threat.”
“Let them come up and take it. They didn’t want to give a hand to anybody. NATO is terrible, and they’re all terrible. So if they want oil, come up and grab it. There’s no real threat, there’s no substantial threat because the country has been decimated,” he said.
He also said that domestic gas prices will fall when the United States exits Iran.
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