US President Donald Trump on Wednesday rated the US military’s performance in the war with Iran as about “15 out of 10,” asserting that Tehran’s leadership is being rapidly decimated and pledging to continue operations with Israel.
Trump’s comments came as the conflict expanded on its fifth day, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka and fresh blasts across the Middle East.
‘US in a very strong position now’: Trumpย
“We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15,” Trump told a gathering of tech bosses at the White House.
“We’re in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead.”
Trump added that Tehran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles was being “wiped out rapidly.”
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 50 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The United Nations says 100,000 people fled the Iranian capital in the war’s first two days alone.
Oil prices have soared following Iranian attacks on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and global stock markets have been hammered over worries that the spike in oil prices may grind down the world economy. US stocks appeared steadier at Wednesday’s opening.
Trump justifies attacking Iran
He repeated his justifications for attacking Iran, saying Tehran was on its way to obtaining a nuclear weapon. “When crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen,” Trump added.
The US leader pledged that he would “continue forward” with the joint air campaign with Israel that has already slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on its opening day on Saturday.
Trump’s administration has faced criticism after days of mixed messages about the rationale for the war, given the Republicans’ previous campaign boasts about starting “no new wars.”
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