President Donald Trump said the renewed military campaign in Iran would last “not too long” but did not offer a concrete timeline.
“As soon as it’s over, which I don’t think will be very much longer. I don’t know how much more they can take, but you know whatever, it is, doesn’t matter,” he said.
Trump made a point to emphasize that his decisions regarding Iran are not influenced by the looming midterm elections, with the president pointing out that he is not on the ballot.
Pressed on “what's left to strike” in Iran, Trump pivoted to tout the fact that the U.S. is “controlling” the Strait of Hormuz and suggested the strikes on Iran are in response to their aggression against vessels moving through the waterway.
“We’ve controlled and we are controlling the Hormuz Strait. We are bringing lots of boats out every day with millions of barrels of oil. We are, for the most part, doing it without trouble. Every once in a while, they shoot a drone and knock it down, but we have control,” Trump said.
Trump then repeated that the U.S. targeted Iran's radar systems, which he said Iran was about to finish rebuilding — despite his repeated claims that Iran's military systems have been defeated.
“They were trying to rebuild their radar systems and a missile system and a mine drop. We got rid of all the mines in the Hormuz Strait. They were trying to build a rocket that drops mines. Who does that?” Trump said. “It was almost finished, so we took it out. We saw that they were building. We see everything that they’re doing. They can’t move — They can’t go to the bathroom without us seeing it.”
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
