New Delhi: The joint attacks of Israel and the US on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes have created a volatile situation in the Middle East, with the rest of world anxiously observing the developments. While many are waiting for the war to be over, it is not slowing down as of now. Notably, the Israel-US strikes have killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the former Supreme Leader of Iran.
War could go on for several weeks
Now, US President Donald Trump has indicated that the war could drag on for several more weeks. During an interview with British newspaper The Daily Mail, he said, “It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so,” before adding, “It’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks or less.”
Trump also spoke about the three American service members who have been killed in the ongoing war. He said, “They’re great people. And, you know, we expect that to happen, unfortunately. Could happen continuous, it could happen again.”
Operations to continue until ‘all objectives achieved’
Also, the US President said in a later video on Truth Social, “Combat operations continue at this time in full-force and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives. He added that the Iranian regime that has long-range missiles in its arsenal and aims to build nuclear weapons is a “threat to every American.”
48 Iranian leaders killed so far
Trump claimed that the Israel-US attacks have killed 48 key leaders of Iran including Khamenei, and noted that the military operation was going as planned. In a separate interview with The Atlantic, Trump said that the Iranian leaders are willing to talk. He said, “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
They should have done it sooner: Trump
He added that the most of the Iranians who were involved in negotiations in recent weeks have been killed. He said, “Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big—that was a big hit. They should have done it sooner, Michael. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”
Notably, Trump had spoken with leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar. Meanwhile, the he US military has claimed to have struck over 1,000 targets inside Iran in the ongoing war. On the other hand, Iran has vowed to exact a terrible revenge for the death of Khamenei and other leaders.