US President Donald Trump has claimed in a televised interview that the United States would need only about two weeks to strike “every single target” in Iran, insisting that the country is already “militarily defeated.”
The remarks were made during an interview with independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson, which was recorded last week and aired on Sunday. In the discussion, Trump also criticized NATO, describing the alliance as a “paper tiger” and accusing US allies of not contributing meaningfully to efforts against Tehran.
His comments come amid reports that Iran has responded to a recent US proposal aimed at ending a conflict that reportedly began on February 28, following US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets.
“They’re militarily defeated. In their own minds, maybe they don’t know that. But I think they do,” Trump said in the interview, before adding: “That doesn’t mean they’re done.”
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He further suggested that US forces were close to completing their objectives, noting that additional strikes could still be carried out if necessary.
“The US military could go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted, and we’ve done probably 70 percent of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit.”
He added, “But even if we didn’t do that, you know, that would just be final touches,” Trump said.
Turning his criticism to NATO, he stated that the alliance “has proven to be a paper tiger. They weren’t there to help.”