On Thursday, President Trump made a statement at the White House, calling Iran a terrorist and hateful country that is paying the price. He emphasized that the U.S. military is doing what needs to be done. Prior to hosting an event for Women’s History Month at the White House, Trump remarked, “The situation in Iran is evolving rapidly. Progress is going very smoothly. Our military is unmatched, there has never been a military like this. No one has seen this kind of power before.”
“We are doing what needs to be done,” he continued, highlighting that the United States should have taken action against Iran a long time ago. “This should have been done over the past 47 years,” he said. “Many different leaders could have taken this action, but they chose not to do so.”
“They (Iran) are truly a country filled with terror and hatred, and now they are paying a heavy price,” added the president. The day before, President Trump told the media on the South Lawn of the White House that Iran has now “lost its navy, lost its air force, no longer has air defense weapons, no longer has radar, and its leaders are also gone.” He stressed that the U.S. military could have inflicted even greater losses on the Iranian authorities, leaving some targets untouched.
The joint military operation between the U.S. and Israel against Iran started on February 28 and entered its 13th day on Thursday. The U.S. Central Command, responsible for military operations, stated on Thursday that approximately 6,000 targets in Iran and over 90 ships have been attacked so far. The U.S. military has targeted facilities such as the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s surface-to-air missile sites, and Iranian air defense systems.
On the first day of the operation, the U.S.-Israel joint strike killed dozens of Iranian leaders, including the top leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, shocking the world. The Israeli Defense Forces announced in a statement on Thursday that they discovered Basij militiamen had set up checkpoints in various locations in Tehran. After verifying these deployments, the Israeli Air Force, guided by military intelligence, launched airstrikes against these checkpoints and the Basij militiamen stationed there, killing them.
“These armed forces are believed to be part of the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, responsible for carrying out terrorist plots and actions in recent years. This airstrike is part of an operation aimed at further striking at the core of the Iranian terrorist regime and critical infrastructure,” the statement said.