US President Donald Trump said Sunday he expects the military campaign against Iran to last approximately four weeks, declaring the operation — which has already claimed the lives of 48 Iranian leaders including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — to be running ahead of schedule and delivering results that he said the world could "barely believe."
"It's always been a four-week process. We figured it will take four weeks or so — as strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks, or less," Trump told the *Daily Mail in one of several media interviews he gave throughout the day from Palm Beach.
Speaking separately to Fox News, he was ebullient about the early results: "Nobody can believe the success we're having — 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it's moving along rapidly." Iran itself confirmed the death of Khamenei, the most significant casualty of strikes that were launched Saturday with the stated goal of dismantling the regime and destroying its military capabilities from the ground up.
Trump continued to paint an overwhelmingly optimistic picture across his various appearances. "We're doing our job not just for us but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule," he told CNBC, adding that "things are evolving in a very positive way right now."
On the military front, the scale of the offensive expanded significantly through the course of the day. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the destruction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters, stating bluntly: "America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters."
B-2 stealth bombers were deployed directly from the United States to strike hardened underground Iranian missile facilities using 2,000-pound bombs, while Iran's naval infrastructure sustained devastating blows.
Trump announced on social media that nine Iranian warships had been destroyed and that the US military was actively hunting down the remainder of the fleet. Iran's naval headquarters was also largely destroyed in the strikes. "They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea," Trump said of the remaining vessels, adding with characteristic sardonic wit: "Other than that, their Navy is doing very well."
CENTCOM also confirmed the sinking of an Iranian warship docked in the Gulf of Oman. On the ground in Tehran, powerful explosions rocked the Iranian capital on the second day of the conflict, with media reports indicating that people were trapped under the rubble of a police station that had been struck.
The offensive has not been without cost to the United States. The Pentagon announced Sunday the first American military casualties of the war — three service members killed, five seriously wounded, and several others sustaining lighter injuries. The casualties were announced after Trump had already given several of his interviews, though when told of the losses he remained resolute. "We have three, but we expect casualties — in the end it's going to be a great deal for the world," he told NBC.
Iran, meanwhile, has retaliated forcefully, launching hundreds of missile and drone attacks that have reached beyond its own borders, including into the airspace of neighbouring countries.
