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US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that Iran's military had been wiped out in the first two days of Operation Epic Fury and called it a tremendous success. He hinted that the United States could go further if needed and also expressed his displeasure over the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran, saying that the "same problem" would continue in the country.
The US President made the remarks during a press conference in Florida. Calling the operation a "tremendous success", he said that the US would go in further. "They (Iran) have no Navy, Air Force, anti-aircraft equipment. It's all been blown up. They have no radar, telecommunications, leadership. It's all gone. We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here I could call it, or we could go further. And we're going to go further. But the big risk on that war has been over for three days. We wiped them out the first in the first two days. When you think about it, it's incredible.", Trump remarked. Trump recalled his past statement regarding Iran and told reporters during the press conference, "On the very first day I came down the escalator in 2015, I said, 'I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons' -- and all I'm doing is keeping my promise." He hailed the success of Operation Midnight Hammer which was conducted by the United States in Iran last year aimed at targeting the nuclear facilities of the country. Trump remarked that without the success of Midnight Hammer, Israel would have been "annihilated". He informed that an order has been placed for 25 more B-2 bombers. The announcement by Trump comes shortly after he met the top brass of American Defence Manufacturers last week. He said, "If we didn't knock out the Iranian potential with Midnight Hammer, they would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it long before now, and at a minimum Israel would have been annihilated. It was very lucky that we had the courage to do that, talented pilots and the great equipment. The B-2 bombers are unbelievable. We ordered 25 more, by the way, the newer, better version. We have the greatest military in the world, we have the greatest equipment in the world by far. You see that no matter where we go." Trump claimed that after the destruction of earlier nuclear facilities, Iran started to reconstitute its weapons program at a different site further adding that the country was rapidly building conventional ballistic missiles. "They (Iran) were starting work at another site that was protected by granite... and they started the process while rapidly building conventional ballistic missiles. They were going to do it all at the same time that threatened our overseas bases and soon could have reached even our homeland. The regime's intention was to use this exponentially growing ballistic missile threat to make it virtually impossible to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon." Taking questions from the press, when asked about the Mojtaba Khamenei, who is the new Supreme Leader of Iran, Trump expressed displeasure and said, "I was disappointed because we think it's going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country. I was disappointed to see their choice." He also described his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin positively, noting that his Russian counterpart wants to be "helpful and constructive" about the situation in West Asia and the Gulf. Trump said, "I had a very good call with President Putin...We were talking about Ukraine, which is just a never-ending fight... But I think it was a positive call on that subject. We obviously talked then about the Middle East and he wants to be helpful. I said, you could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That would be more helpful. But we had a very good talk, and he wants to be very constructive". His remarks come amid heightened tensions in West Asia as military operations and retaliatory actions involving Iran, the United States and Israel continue to escalate across the region, following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint military strikes by the US and Israel on February 28. The strikes also killed several senior leaders of the Islamic Republic. In retaliation, Tehran launched counter-strikes targeting American military bases in multiple Arab countries and Israeli assets across the region. (ANI)
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