Washington, March 24 (IANS) US President Donald Trump said that successive layers of Iran’s leadership had been “eliminated” during ongoing US military operations, saying the country was struggling to find new leaders amid sustained pressure.
Speaking at a roundtable on Monday in Memphis, Trump said US strikes had not only targeted military infrastructure but also senior figures within Iran’s system. “We eliminated their leaders. We had the first set of leaders; they’re gone,” he said.
He added that attempts to replace them had also been hit. “Then the second set, 88 people met to pick a new leader, and they’re now extinguished,” Trump said, describing a cycle in which new leadership groups were repeatedly targeted.
“And then they’re meeting again, but now nobody wants to be the leader,” he said, calling it “one of the few political jobs that nobody wants anywhere in the world”.
Trump said the operations were part of a broader effort to dismantle Iran’s ability to threaten the United States and its allies. “We’re systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America,” he said.
He linked the pressure on Iran’s leadership to what he described as significant military losses. “We knocked out their Navy. We knocked out their air force. We knocked out their anti-aircraft. We knocked out everything,” Trump said.
According to Trump, the campaign had also severely degraded Iran’s missile capabilities. “We’re destroying their ballistic missiles and drones’ programs, with launchers down by more than 90 per cent,” he said.
He argued that the strikes had shifted Iran’s negotiating position. “It’s only because of the great job that our military did is the reason they mean business,” Trump said. “They want to settle.”
At the same time, Trump said the United States had opened a short diplomatic window, indicating that planned strikes on certain targets had been postponed to allow for talks.
“We’re giving it five days, and then we’re going to see where that takes us,” he said, adding that Iran had “one more opportunity” to end its threats.
Trump reiterated that the central US objective remained unchanged. “We’ll ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon,” he said.
He also said Iranian officials had previously signalled their nuclear capability in talks. “Its own negotiators bragged to our representatives about having enough material to make nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
Trump suggested that Iran’s actions in the region had backfired. “They started shooting all of their neighbours,” he said, adding that “their neighbours then turned against them”.
He said the situation had left Iran weakened both militarily and politically. “They’re not threatening us anymore,” Trump said.
The remarks present a picture of a campaign aimed not only at military assets but also at leadership structures, suggesting an effort to destabilise decision-making within Iran while forcing it towards negotiations.
--IANS
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