WASHINGTON — In his first live on-camera remarks since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, President Donald Trump sought to make his case to the American public Monday why the military operation in the Middle East is necessary.
Speaking at a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, Trump said the major military action is needed to ensure Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon and to stop its ballistic missile program, which he said was “growing rapidly and dramatically” and designed to “shield their nuclear weapon development.”
“We were the ones that were complaining," Trump said. "We were the ones that wanted it stopped. But everybody was behind us. They just didn't have the courage to say so.”
Amid skepticism from some about the U.S. getting involved in another overseas conflict — including a few Republicans — Trump made clear he believed Iran would not “cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons.” And he said an Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would put America “under threat.”
“And it was very nearly under threat,” he added.
Trump went on to assert that this weekend’s attacks, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were the “last best chance to strike.” He criticized former Democratic President Barack Obama for the nuclear deal the U.S. and Iran made during his time in office in 2015, which Trump pulled out of during his first term. Trump asserted the agreement would have resulted in the country obtaining a nuclear weapon despite Iran vowing to not seek one under the agreement.
The Trump administration itself was engaged in talks with Iran about securing a new nuclear deal ahead of the attack, with a round of negotiations taking place in Geneva just last week. Trump said that, at one point, the U.S. thought it had a deal but “they backed out.” The president said the same back-and-forth occurred again before he said he decided “you can’t deal with these people. You got to do it the right way.”
The Trump administration is facing questions about how long the military action — which started Saturday and has continued since — will go on and references from some critics to “forever wars.” While Trump noted that his administration’s expectations sit at around four to five weeks, he declared that the U.S. was “already substantially ahead of our time projections.” At the same time, he indicated he was not putting a time limit on the operation and hit back against what he said were predictions that he would get “bored” of the conflict.
“Whatever the time is, it's OK, whatever it takes,” he said.
The president also told the New York Post in an interview Monday that he was not ruling out the possibility of putting U.S. troops on the ground in Iran if necessary.
Even as Trump made the case that the threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon was large enough to necessitate military action, he maintained that the U.S. strikes he ordered this past summer on three Iranian nuclear sites were successful and resulted in “obliteration.”
He contended, however, that while Iran was unable to use the sites that were struck, it was ignoring U.S. warnings about building its program back up at “a different location.”
The president also laid out four objectives for the war: destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, annihilate its navy, ensure it can never have a nuclear weapon and stop Tehran from being able to fund “terrorist armies outside of their borders.”
Trump started the Medal of Honor ceremony — which saw him give three Army soldiers the award — with his remarks on Iran. Over the weekend, he put out two videos talking about the military actions but this event marked his first time speaking about the strikes in a live setting in front of cameras, reporters and ceremony guests. He did not take questions from reporters.