Trump seeks to justify Iran war to US public

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on March 1 sought to justify the military operation against Iran by citing the need to ensure America’s long-term security, and to prepare the public for further casualties after the deaths of three US troops.

Mr Trump, who was back at the White House after a weekend in Florida, said the US and Israeli air attacks that began on Feb 28 had been projected to last four to five weeks but could go on longer. The military campaign has killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sunk at least 10 Iranian warships and struck more than 1,000 targets.

“We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it’s okay. Whatever it takes,” he said at his first public event since the conflict began.

He made no mention of regime change, saying the fight was needed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies seeking, and to thwart its long-range ballistic missile program.

“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle East, but also to the American people,” Mr Trump said.

The remarks followed days of sometimes conflicting statements from the president, who had discussed the attacks in two brief videos and one-on-one interviews with select journalists over the weekend but did not give a televised address to the nation, as is customary in moments of military action.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on suggestions the administration’s messaging on the operation has been confusing.

On X, she said Mr Trump had outlined “clear objectives,” including preventing Iran’s proxies from launching attacks and stopping production of roadside bombs like those used against US forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Mr Trump said in a video address published on his Truth Social platform, responding to news of the casualties.

“America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilisation,” the US President said from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Mr Trump has not addressed the nation directly since the start of the war against Iran on Feb 28, but he has released two video messages, announced the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Truth Social, and had several telephone interviews with journalists.

Mr Trump did not speak to reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida.

Senior officials from his administration are due to make the case for the attack on Iran before the US Congress on March 3, the White House said.

“It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so,” Mr Trump told British newspaper the Daily Mail about the length of the war.

He was meanwhile quoted as saying in an interview with Fox News: “Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly.”

He told NBC News that “we expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world”, after the US military announced three service members had been killed.

Mr Trump said: “We’re undertaking this massive operation not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children.”

“These actions are right and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons and lots of threats,” he said.

Ships sunk

“I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social network.

“We are going after the rest – They will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters,” he said.

Neither Mr Trump nor other top US officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth have appeared in public since the start of the war.

The Atlantic magazine quoted Mr Trump as saying that Iran’s leaders “want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner.”

But “most of those people are gone,” he said.

Mr Trump told CNBC in an interview that “we’re doing our job not just for us but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule.”

“Things are evolving in a very positive way right now, a very positive way,” he said. AFP