Big one is coming, Trump warns Iran: President says war could last for four weeks… and that he isn’t scared to use ground troops
Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday night that the ‘big one’ is coming and said he was not afraid to put boots on the ground if necessary.
The war spread further on Monday, with Israel exchanging fire with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, US jets being shot down in Kuwait and Qatar shooting down Iranian warplanes.
Mr Trump predicted the conflict would last ‘about four weeks’ but boasted that US and Israeli forces were ‘way ahead of schedule’.
The US President added that troops would be sent ‘if necessary’.
Despite campaigning for office on a policy that would end US intervention in foreign affairs, he said: ‘I have no idea about boots on the ground.
‘As every President says, ‘there will be no boots on the ground’, I’m not saying that. “I probably don’t need them” I say, [or]’if necessary’.’
Such a move would likely lead to further US losses and would be unpopular with supporters of President Trump, who advocates US isolationism.
He warned Iran: ‘We haven’t even started hitting them hard’ and added that ‘the big wave hasn’t happened yet, the big wave will come soon’.
A man carries an injured woman at the site of US-Israeli airstrikes in Tehran, Iran, on Monday.
Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday night that the ‘big one’ is coming and said he wasn’t afraid to put boots on the ground if necessary
“We’re annoying them,” he told CNN. ‘I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. ‘We have and use the largest army in the world.’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said America was “fighting to win” on its own terms and “without stupid rules of engagement.”
While the US is apparently aiding anti-regime elements within Iran, Mr Hegseth said America is not particularly interested in regime change, avoiding any ‘nation-building quagmire’ or any ‘democracy-building practices’.
‘We are fighting to win. “And we don’t waste our time or our lives,” he said.
‘Destroy Iran’s offensive missiles, destroy Iran’s missile production, destroy its navy and other security infrastructure so they will never have nuclear weapons.
‘Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for its nuclear blackmail ambitions,’ he said.
‘Our bases, our people, our allies are all targeted; ‘Iran put a conventional weapon to our heads while trying to lie to get a nuclear bomb.’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the operation must take place ‘no matter what’ and claimed that otherwise Iran would have ‘so many short-range missiles, so many unmanned aerial vehicles that no one will be able to do anything about it’.
Tehran has been shaken by US and Israeli air strikes since Saturday, when Ayatollah Khamenei was killed.
Israel launched a series of attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah fired a missile at Haifa on Sunday.
He added that the US attacked Iran “preemptively” after learning of Israel’s attack plans.
Asked about the future of the country, Rubio said that the United States would ‘love’ the Iranians to overthrow the government, but the goal was to destroy the country’s ballistic missile capacity.
The US military announced that it has hit more than 1,250 targets in Iran and destroyed 11 Iranian ships since Saturday.
On Monday, the crews of three US jets had a lucky escape after being accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses. All six pilots ejected safely. In a video published online, Kuwait residents were seen thanking a female pilot for her service after landing.
Six US service personnel were killed in the first three days of Operation Epic Fury.
On Monday night, the conflict threatened to spread to the Middle East. As Israel prepares to invade southern Lebanon, Qatar announced that it shot down two Iranian SU-24 warplanes.
The Qataris were responding to a coordinated Iranian attack that included seven ballistic missiles and five drones.
The Gulf country condemned Iran for its ‘reckless and irresponsible’ actions.
Mr Trump said the ‘biggest surprise’ for him was Iran’s attacks on Arab countries in the region.
‘We were surprised,’ said the President. ‘We told them’ [other countries]They say ‘We have this’ and now they want to fight. And they fight aggressively. ‘They were going to intervene very little and now they insist on being involved.’
Iran also attacked Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia following the US and Israeli military operation that started on Saturday morning. The UAE has come under sustained bombardment as its defenses intercepted nine ballistic missiles, six cruise missiles and 148 drones on Monday.
Picture: The pilot of the F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Kuwait was thanked by locals who managed to safely jump from the plane before it hit the ground.
The UAE has shot down 174 ballistic missiles along with 689 Iranian drones since the attacks began, according to figures released on Monday.
The US embassy in Kuwait was hit by a suspected Iranian drone strike on Monday night.
The US State Department said there were no injuries, but the building’s exterior was damaged and an external warehouse was set on fire, according to the Washington Post. Lebanon’s health ministry said 31 people were killed in Israeli air strikes south of Beirut, where Hezbollah militants are based.
Israeli defense chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said this was the beginning of an ‘offensive campaign’ against Hezbollah and that residents should prepare for ‘many long days of war ahead’.
