Trump on Iran:

We are winning the war by a lot.

We decimated their whole evil empire.

It will continue, I am sure, for a little while.

Trump on how long Iran war will continue:

Whatever it takes.

But their military is almost nonexistent.

Reporter: Did the United States bomb a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people.

Trump: Based on what I’ve seen that was done by Iran.

Reporter: Is that true Secretary Hegseth?

Hegseth: The only side that targets civilians is Iran.

Trump: We think it was done by Iran... they are very inaccurate with their munitions.

Reporter: Can you give us an idea of what “unconditional surrender” looks like to you? What do you want from Iran?

Trump: I said unconditional — not conditioned. I said unconditional.

That means they cry “uncle,” or they reach a point where they can’t fight any longer. There’s nobody left to resist.

That could happen too, because we’ve wiped out their leadership numerous times already.

So if they surrender — or if there’s nobody left to surrender — they’re rendered useless in terms of military capability.

Reporter: Do you have any indications that Russia is somehow supporting Iran in this?

Trump: I have had no indication of that whatsoever. If they are, they’re not doing a very good job, because Iran is not doing too well.

Reporter: Secretary Bessent announced some moves to temporarily allow certain Russian oil sales to India. Are you considering any other moves, including using the SPR?

Trump: I would do it just to take a little pressure off, but I think there’s a lot of oil. We’ve got a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount.

Reporter: Under what circumstances would you send in ground troops? How are you thinking about that?

Trump: I don’t even want to talk about it. I don’t think it’s an appropriate question, and I’m not going to answer it.

Could there be a very good reason? There would have to be a very good reason.

If we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level.

Reporter: Would you secure the enriched uranium at the nuclear sites with ground troops?

Trump: At some point, maybe we will — that would be a great thing — but right now we’re just decimating them. We haven’t gone after it yet, but it’s something we could do later on.

We wouldn’t do it now. Maybe we’d do it later.

Reporter: There is no traffic going through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump: That’s the ships’ choice... oil prices will come down very fast.

Trump on Iran:

They would like to settle; we are not looking to settle.

Trump on Iran:

They cut babies’ heads off.

They chop women in half.

Take a look at October 7.

Trump on Iran:

We got rid of the top leadership, and we got rid of the second level of leadership.

Now they’re on their third or fourth level of leadership, and they have leaders now that nobody even knows.

Trump on Iran:

They suddenly started apologizing to the Middle Eastern states.

You can mark that down as a victory for us and for the Middle Eastern states that are really friends of ours. I guess they’re not going to be shooting at them anymore — they apologized.

That’s a surrender right there. I call it surrender.

Trump on Kurds:

We don’t want to make the war any more complex than it already is. We don’t want to see the Kurds get hurt or killed.

We’ve had a good relationship with them. They’re willing to go in, but I’ve told them I don’t want them to go in.

Reporter: Do you think the map of Iran looks the same after this is all done?

Trump: That I can’t tell you. Probably not.

Reporter: Even if it’s not helping the Iranians particularly much, the Russians would still be involving themselves in a conflict they are not a part of.

Trump: Wouldn’t they say that we do it against them?

They can give all the information they want, but the people are overwhelmed. We have the greatest military on Earth.

Reporter: Do you want to be involved in the selection of the next leader of Iran?

Trump: Yeah. We don’t have to come back every five or ten years to do this. We want to pick a president that’s not leading them into war.

Saudi Arabia has warned Iran not to attack its territory or energy infrastructure, saying it could retaliate and allow U.S. forces to use Saudi bases if strikes continue.

The warning came during a call between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Source: Reuters

Netanyahu: We are not seeking to divide Iran.

Trump: Iran’s map will probably not look the same after this is done.

Last week, an Israeli missile strike on a government compound in Tehran killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and many top military leaders, leaving Iran without key commanders.

However, the attack also killed Iranian officials seen by the U.S. as potential negotiators who might have helped quickly end the conflict, complicating the situation.

Source: NYT