US President Donald Trump has defended his country’s war against Iran, saying Washington did not trigger a war and that Tehran had been at war against the US since 1979.
On Wednesday, during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Trump said American military action was an answer to decades of Iranian animosity.
America did not begin a war with Iran. Iran has been at war with America since 1979. “This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” Trump said.
He said he believed the United States had already won the military fight, but added Washington was seeking full victory and not partial victory.
“We want to get a total victory, not a 93% victory.” “It is going to be total,” he said, adding that Iran could take up to 25 years to recover from the destruction wrought by American forces.
Trump also said US operations, including strikes by B-2 bombers, had prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He was upbeat that the war would be over soon, with the results making the world safer. “I think we’ll have a result that will be good for the world,” he said.
The comments were made as Washington and Tehran remain at loggerheads, and with the war increasingly proving a political headache for Trump’s administration following US midterm election setbacks for Republicans.
