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"We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't happened yet. The big one will come soon"...
President Donald Trump has declared that the US military is destroying Iran, but stressed that the "big wave" has not yet come. In an interview with CNN, Trump addressed a wide range of topics, including the expected duration of the conflict, his surprise at Iran's widespread retaliation and the country's expected succession plan.
Asked if the US is doing more beyond military strike to help the Iranian people regain control of their country from the regime, Trump responded positively.
" We're destroying them a lot. I think it's going very well. It's very powerful. We have the greatest military in the world and we're using it. I don't want to see it last too long. I always thought it would last four weeks. And we're a little ahead of schedule. Yeah, yeah. But right now we want everybody to stay inside. It's not safe out there. We haven't even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn't even happened. The big one is coming soon ," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper.
So far, the president said, the biggest surprise has been Iran's attacks on Arab countries in the region: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Further speaking about Arab leaders, Trump said that they did not want to be involved, but after the attacks they now want to be part.
“ We were surprised. We told them, we have this, and now they want to fight. And they are fighting aggressively. They would have been very little involved and now they insist on being involved. I know these people. They are strong and smart. The Iranians, they shot at a hotel, they shot at a palace. That angered them. They loved us, but they were watching us. There was no reason for them to get involved ,” Trump said.
President Trump emphasized that the Iranian nuclear threat has been a major problem in the region for some time.
"You have to understand, they lived under that dark cloud for years. That's why you can never have peace ," he said.
Regarding who might emerge to lead Iran, the American president said that he does not yet know who it will be, but hoped that this time someone responsible would be elected.
" We don't know who the leadership is. We don't know who they're going to pick. Maybe they'll get lucky and pick someone who knows what they're doing. The Iranians lost a lot in terms of leadership because of the initial attacks. Forty-nine people. It was an amazing attack. They got a little arrogant by all meeting in one place. They thought they were undetectable. They weren't undetectable. We were shocked by that ," he added.
Regarding the current situation, Trump said it was not clear who was running the country now.
" They don't even know who's running them now. We took out 49 Iranian leaders. They were the leaders and some of them were being considered. But with more than four dozen killed, we don't know who's running the country now ," Trump said.
The president said his team tried to negotiate with the Iranians, but we couldn't make a deal with them.
" We couldn't make a deal with these people. Every new offer was met with a rollback of the previous offers. The Iranians wouldn't stop enriching uranium. They had all that enriched material. They looked at remaking it there, but it was in such bad shape that the mountain had practically collapsed ," Trump said.
He further added that his military actions were the only way to deal with Iran, as other ways were not working.
"This is the way" to deal with Iran. We don't have to worry about agreements. Go back 37 years, actually 47 years, close to 50 years, look at what happened and all the deaths. People in the military walking without legs, walking without arms, with their faces destroyed ," he said.
Trump said he asked his team for a list of all Iranian or Iranian-backed attacks against the US and US allies and interests.
“Over the last 47 years, I said, 'give me all the attacks.' If I told you all of them, I would still be talking ,” he said.
According to him, the latest military operation is part of a long-term campaign to eliminate the Iranian threat.
" We took out Soleimani last time. He was an incredibly violent and vicious general. The strike on Soleimani was a big move. If that hadn't happened, you might not have Israel today. Israel might not exist. Then we had Midnight Hammer, very important. They were a month away from having a nuclear weapon ," Trump said.
Criticizing President Barack Obama's nuclear weapons deal, Trump said it gave Iran all the power it needed to begin building a nuclear weapon.
" It was the 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 probably would have used it against us. That deal was so bad it was a path to a bomb ," Trump added.
In the end, the president closed the interview by saying that the Iranians should have accepted the deal with them, but even though they rejected it, according to him, things are going well.
" In the last talks, the Iranians were not willing to give us what we asked for. They should have done it. So, it's going well ," Trump said, before hanging up. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "CNN"
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