'Big wave yet to come': Trump on war in Iran
What's the story
In a recent interview with CNN, United States President Donald Trump said that the US military is "knocking the crap" out of Iran but warned that the "big wave" of military action is still to come. The president said that while things are going well and ahead of schedule, they haven't even started hitting them hard yet. "I think it's going very well. It's very powerful. We've got the greatest military in the world and we're using it," he said.
Unexpected response
Surprise at Iran's attacks on Arab nations
Trump also expressed surprise at Iran's attacks on Arab countries, including Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait. He said the US told these nations, "'We've got this,' and now they want to fight. And they're aggressively fighting. They were going to be very little involved and now they insist on being involved." When asked how long the war might last, he said, "I don't want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks."
Ongoing conflict
Long-term campaign to eliminate threat from Iran
The military action against Iran is a part of a long-term campaign to eliminate the threat from the country, Trump said. Trump referred to previous actions like the drone strike on Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani and strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as important steps in this campaign. He said the strike against Soleimani "was a big move," adding, "if that didn't happen, then you might not have Israel today. Israel might not exist."
Negotiation efforts
Trump slams Obama's nuclear weapons deal
He criticized former President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, calling it an "Iran nuclear deal because it gave all the power to Iran." "They would have had a nuclear weapon three or four years ago. They would have used it against Israel. They maybe would have used it against us." "That deal was so bad. It was a pathway to a bomb," Trump told CNN.