President Donald Trump told CNN in a nine-minute telephone interview on Monday morning that the US military is “knocking the crap” out of Iran – but warned that the “big wave” of action is still to come.
“We’re knocking the crap out of them,” Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper, according to an exclusive CNN report. “I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it.”
Trump discussed a broad range of issues during the interview, including how long the conflict might last, Iran’s retaliation across the region and uncertainty over the country’s leadership.
On the possible duration of the war, the president said, “I don’t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we’re a little ahead of schedule,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
Asked whether the US was doing more beyond military strikes to help the Iranian people regain control from the regime, Trump replied, “Yes,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
“We are indeed. But right now we want everyone staying inside. It’s not safe out there,” he said, according to the exclusive CNN report.
He added that conditions were likely to deteriorate further. “We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon,” Trump told CNN, according to the exclusive CNN report.
The ‘biggest surprise’
Trump said “the biggest surprise” so far had been Iran’s attacks on Arab countries in the region, including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“We were surprised,” Trump said, according to the exclusive CNN report. “We told them, ‘We’ve got this,’ and now they want to fight. And they’re aggressively fighting. They were going to be very little involved and now they insist on being involved.”
Of the Arab leaders, he added: “I know these people. They’re tough and smart,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
Referring to Iranian strikes, Trump said, “They shot into a hotel, they shot into an apartment house. It just made them angry. They love us, but they were watching. There was no reason for them to be involved,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
“That was probably the biggest surprise,” he said.
Trump argued that Iran’s nuclear ambitions had long destabilised the region. “You have to understand, they were living under that dark cloud for years. That’s why you could never have peace,” he said, according to the exclusive CNN report.
Succession in Iran
On who might emerge to lead Iran, Trump said, “We don’t know who the leadership is. We don’t know who they’ll pick. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
He said Iran had lost “a lot in terms of leadership” in the initial strikes.
“Forty-nine people,” Trump said, according to the exclusive CNN report. “It was an amazing strike.”
“They got a little bit arrogant” by meeting in one place, he added. “They thought they were undetectable. They weren’t undetectable. We were shocked by it,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
“They don’t even know who’s leading them now,” Trump said. “We went down 49,” referring to Iranian leaders killed in the strikes, according to the exclusive CNN report.
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With more than four dozen figures dead, he added, “We don’t know who’s leading the country now. They don’t know who’s leading. It’s a little like the unemployment line,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
‘We couldn’t make a deal’
Trump said his administration had attempted to negotiate with Tehran but “we couldn’t make a deal with these people,” according to the exclusive CNN report, claiming that each new proposal was followed by a withdrawal of previous concessions.
He said Iran had refused to end its uranium enrichment.
“They had all that enriched stuff. They looked at redoing it there, but it was in such bad shape, the mountain had basically collapsed,” Trump told CNN, according to the exclusive CNN report.
“This is the way” to deal with Iran, he said of the military action. “We don’t have to worry about agreements,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
Trump pointed to decades of conflict since the 1979 revolution. “You go back 37 years, really 47 years, close to 50, look at what’s happened and all the death,” he said, according to the exclusive CNN report.
He said he had asked for a full list of Iranian or Iranian-backed attacks on the US and its allies. “Over the last 47 years. I said, ‘give me all of the attacks.’ If I told you all of them I’d still be talking,” he said, according to the exclusive CNN report.
The current campaign, he argued, is part of a longer-term effort to counter Iran. “We took out Soleimani last time,” he said, referring to the 3 January 2020 US drone strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. “He was an unbelievably violent, vicious general,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
“That was a big move,” Trump said of the strike. “If that didn’t happen, then you might not have Israel today. Israel might not exist,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
He also cited “Midnight Hammer” – the June 2025 US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities – saying, “They were a month away from having a nuclear weapon,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
Criticising former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, Trump said it “gave all the power to Iran” and described it as “a pathway to a bomb,” according to the exclusive CNN report.
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In the latest negotiations, he said, Tehran “weren’t willing to give us what we asked for. They should have done it.”
“So it’s going good,” Trump said before ending the call, according to the exclusive CNN report.
