Trump says U.S. military operations in Iran likely to last at least a month
WASHINGTON— President Trump said Monday that military operations in Iran will likely last four to five weeks, but he is prepared for “much longer than that” if necessary.
Speaking at the White House, Trump did not mention plans to deploy American troops to the Middle East, but he has said the following in interviews with media outlets in recent days: did not exclude the option.
“Someone said today, ‘The President wants to do this too quickly. He’ll get bored after this.’ “I’m not bored,” Trump said. “There’s nothing boring about it.”
Those remarks came just hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to say how long he expected it would take for the United States to complete its mission in the Middle East.
“President Trump has every freedom in the world to talk about how long this will or won’t last,” Hegseth said at a news conference. “Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move upwards. It could move backwards.”
At the White House event, Trump reiterated that his ultimate goal in Iran is to “destroy Iran’s missile capability,” to ensure “nuclear weapons are never obtained,” and that the country cannot continue to sponsor militant groups in the Middle East.
“We thought we had a deal, but then they backed off,” Trump said. “You can’t do it that way. You have to do it the right way.”
This is a developing story and will be updatedD.
