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President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) avoided directly answering whether the United States could declare victory in its conflict with Iran if late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, continues to hold influence in the country's leadership.
Speaking to reporters before departing for Ohio and Kentucky, Trump said he would not comment on the political future of Iran's leadership but highlighted the scale of US military action against the country. "I don't want to comment on that," he said when asked whether victory would be possible if Mojtaba Khamenei remained in power. "But I will tell you I just spoke with various countries, the leaders of various countries, you'll have a list, and they said they've never seen anything like it, Trump added. Trump praised the strength of the US armed forces, saying Washington possesses unmatched military capabilities. "We have the greatest military in the world, by far. Nobody's close," he said. The US president also claimed that American strikes had significantly weakened Iran's military infrastructure, including its naval and air capabilities. "Right now, they've lost their navy, they've lost their air force. They have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all. They have no radar. Their leaders are gone," he said. Trump further asserted that the US forces had destroyed dozens of Iranian mine-laying vessels. "We took out just about all of their mine ships in one night. We're upto number 60. I didn't realise they had that big a navy. I would say it was big and ineffective. But every one of their ships, just about all of their navy is gone, at the bottom of the sea, " he said. He added, "Well, we've knocked out their navy, we've knocked out their air force. We've taken out 60 mine boats, 59 mine boats. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. We have the greatest military in the world, by far, not even close. They've inflicted 47 years' worth of damage to the world." Warning that Washington could intensify its operations if necessary, Trump added that the US still had the capacity to carry out further strikes quickly. "We can do a lot worse. We're leaving them certain things that if we take them out, we can take them out, we can take them out by this afternoon, in fact, within an hour. They literally would never be able to build that country back," he said. Trump concluded by saying that Iran had been dealt a historic military blow. "We have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit, and we're not finished yet. " (ANI)
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