President Trump spoke to reporters late Monday afternoon at his golf resort outside Miami. In his first formal news conference since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran over a week ago, the president made a new threat. Nick Schifrin reports.
Amna Nawaz:
Returning now to the war with Iran, President Trump spoke to reporters late this afternoon at his golf resort outside Miami. In his first formal news conference since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran over a week ago, the president made a new threat.
President Donald Trump:
We’re also hitting where they make missiles and where they deliver missiles. We’ve struck over 5,000 targets to date, some of them very major targets. And we’ve left some of the most important targets for later in case we need to do it. If we hit them, it’s going to take many years for them to be rebuilt.
Amna Nawaz:
Joining us now with more on what the president had to say about the war in Iran is our foreign affairs and defense correspondent, Nick Schifrin.
So, Nick, when the president talks about new targets there, what does he mean?
Nick Schifrin:
Yes, this is new, Amna. We have not heard this from him or any other U.S. official specifically talking about the threat of hitting, in his words, electricity production.
That presumably means civilian targets, how the country keeps its lights on, keeps its heat going. And U.S. and Israeli officials have pointed out that ideally they would actually leave some of that intact because they want the future of Iran to be one that they deal with. That depends on the leadership, of course.
But, again, a new threat from President Trump and really saying: “We’re not looking to do that if we don’t need to. We are waiting to see what happens before we do,” leaving an ellipsis at the end of that sentence.
Amna Nawaz:
He also spoke about the timeline for the war. What did he have to say about that?
Nick Schifrin:
So, this is really important, I think, because we’ve heard President Trump speak to reporters lately saying that, well, maybe the war is almost done. He’s cited all of the air defense in Iran is gone.
Missile — the ability for Iran to launch missiles is down some 90 percent. All of these U.S. airstrikes that you’re seeing, some video of hitting drones, etc. But this is what he said tonight. He said: “The war will end soon, very soon.”
And when asked about how he could help protesters, right, the ones who he promised to help back in January, when tens of thousands of them were killed, he said that he would love to help the protesters, but that the Iranian system would have to be a system — quote — “that allows them to be helped.”
And then this is the end of the quotation. “And if we cannot have that, if we cannot have a new Iranian system, we might as well get over with it right now.”
That is a very big suggestion that some of his advisers are doubting whether regime change can be achieved. And, therefore, once the military objectives are achieved, perhaps the U.S. cannot fulfill his promise to help all of those protesters back in January overthrow the regime, again, just a suggestion from the president.
We got other suggestions as well in this press conference, but a big hint there that he did not see a need to keep on going once these military objectives are achieved. And he said they’re almost all achieved already.
Amna Nawaz:
Nick Schifrin with the very latest from President Trump.
Nick, thank you.
Nick Schifrin:
Thank you.
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