President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. military is continuing to conduct large-scale operations in Iran in Operation Epic Fury.
Iran is not taking a backseat by expanding its attack, launching missiles and drawing militias to the fight as Israeli and U.S. forces strike targets inside the Islamic Republic.
Trump said the strikes on Iran were needed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon that would be a threat to the American people, despite efforts at negotiation.
“But they ignored the warnings in their pursuit of nuclear weapons; their weapons program was growing rapidly,” Trump said.
Trump said the war is expected to last four-to-five weeks. He added the U.S. can continue the fight for much longer, rejecting speculation that the U.S. would become bored and abandon its objectives.
“I don’t get bored, there’s nothing boring about this,” he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday the U.S.-Israeli action against Iran over the weekend was in response to the Islamic Republic’s yearslong targeting of the U.S. military and interests around the world.
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change,” Hegseth said. “And the world is better off for it.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to claims that the objectives of the mission were not laid out.
She listed goals on X, including the destruction of Iran’s missiles and missile industry, the destruction of the Iranian Navy, ensuring Iranian proxies can no longer destabilize the region, preventing Iran and its proxies from making roadside bombs and IEDs, guaranteeing Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon and preventing the Iranian regime from threatening America or its national security interests.
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has actively and intentionally facilitated the killing of Americans while chanting ‘death to America’ and funding other bloodthirsty terrorists seeking to destroy the United States and all of Western Civilization,” she said. “Prior American leaders were too weak and cowardly to do anything about it. Now, President Donald J. Trump is correcting decades of cowardice and holding those responsible for the deaths of Americans accountable.”
