US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that the United States has “literally obliterated” Iran’s military capabilities, saying American forces have struck more than 7,000 targets across the country since the start of the conflict, even as he urged other nations to join efforts to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.Speaking ahead of a meeting with the Kennedy Center board of trustees, Trump offered one of his most sweeping assessments yet of the US-led campaign against Iran, declaring that Tehran’s air force, navy, air defences and command structure had been devastated.
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“Our powerful military campaign to end the threats posed by the Iranian regime continued in full force over the past few days. They have been literally obliterated. The Air Force is gone. The Navy is gone. Many, many ships have been sunk,” Trump said.“They’re war-fighting ships, anti-aircraft is decimated, their radar is gone, and their leaders are gone. Other than that, they’re doing quite well,” he added.
Trump claims over 7,000 US strikes, sharp drop in Iranian attacks
Trump said the US had struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran since the war began, targeting both commercial and military sites, and claimed the operation had sharply degraded Tehran’s offensive capabilities.“Since the beginning of the conflict, we’ve struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran, and these have been mostly commercial and military targets. We’ve achieved a 90 per cent reduction in their ballistic missile launches and a 95 per cent reduction in drone attacks,” Trump said.He added that the US had also hit facilities involved in missile and drone production.“We’ve also attacked the manufacturing plants, the places where they manufacture the missiles and the drones, and that’s going on today. We just hit three of them today,” he said.Trump further claimed that more than 100 Iranian naval vessels had been “sunk or destroyed” over the last week and a half, including 30 mine-laying ships, as Washington seeks to blunt Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Gulf.“We are aggressively dismantling Iran’s defence industrial base, and its ability to rebuild its missiles and drone capability is getting close to zero,” he said.
Kharg Island strike claim and warning on Iranian oil infrastructure
Trump also said the US had struck Kharg Island, home to Iran’s main oil export terminal, but claimed Washington had deliberately avoided completely destroying energy infrastructure.“We attacked Kharg Island and knocked it. We destroyed everything on the island except for the area where the oil is. We left the pipes,” Trump said.“We didn’t want to do that, but we will do that… But for purposes of someday rebuilding that country, I guess we did the right thing,” he added.Tehran has accused the United States, without evidence, of using “ports, docks and hideouts” in the United Arab Emirates to launch strikes on Kharg Island.
Trump says Strait of Hormuz is in ‘very good shape’ but asks other countries to ‘come and help us’
Despite his claims of battlefield success, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz — the strategic waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil normally flows — remains vulnerable because of its narrow geography and Iran’s ability to launch short-range attacks.“We have it (Strait of Hormuz) in very good shape. We’ve already taken care of Iran, but now, because of the fact that literally a single terrorist can shoot a missile, and it’s fairly close range, because it is a tight area… Iran has always used that as an economic weapon,” Trump said.“It’s not going to be able to be used very long. Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years,” he added.Earlier, Trump said he wanted countries that rely on Gulf oil flows to step up.“Come and help us with the Strait,” he said, according to CBS News, while adding that he would not specify which nations had agreed to assist.Trump’s comments came as the US continues trying to assemble a coalition to protect shipping through the waterway after Iranian strikes and mining threats effectively disrupted tanker traffic.
Allies respond coolly to Trump’s call for naval support
But Trump’s appeal has so far met a cautious — and in some cases outright negative — response from allies.American allies around the world have responded coolly or rebuffed Trump’s call to send warships to escort merchant vessels through the Persian Gulf, reflecting strain in Washington’s alliance relationships after the US and Israel launched the war without broad prior consultation.The sharpest refusal came from Germany, where defence minister Boris Pistorius said, “This is not our war; we did not start it,” according to the New York Times.Japan, Italy and Australia signalled on Monday that they would not participate in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while France, South Korea and Britain were more non-committal.In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would not be “drawn into wider war”, while still working with allies on what he called a “viable collective plan” to restore freedom of navigation in the strait.Starmer said Britain is discussing with the US and partners in Europe and the Gulf whether to use mine-hunting drones already stationed in the region, but signalled the UK is unlikely to send a warship.Italy also showed reluctance. Foreign minister Antonio Tajani said Rome supports reinforcing EU naval missions in the Red Sea, but added, “I don’t think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz.”Trump has also publicly warned that a lack of allied support could damage the alliance. He told the Financial Times on Sunday that if Nato members refused or gave a negative response, “it will be very bad for the future of Nato.”
