‘We Haven’t Hit Them Hard Yet’: Trump Signals Escalation in Iran Attack
- President Donald Trump says the US is hitting Iran hard but warns that an even bigger military assault is still coming
- In an interview with CNN, he claimed early strikes killed 49 Iranian leaders and left the country’s leadership in disarray
- Trump also defended the operation as necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, saying negotiations had failed
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UNITED STATES- President Donald Trump says the US military is hitting Iran hard but warns that an even bigger attack is still coming.
In a nine-minute phone interview with CNN, Trump said the US is hitting hard at Iran and that things are “going very well.” He insisted the US has “the greatest military in the world” and is using it to full force, but also made it clear: this is not the peak of the fighting yet
"The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon,” he said.
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How long will the war last?
Trump said he hopes the conflict won’t drag on and that operations are slightly ahead of schedule.
“I always thought it would be four weeks,” he said.
When asked if the US is doing more than just military strikes to help ordinary Iranians, Trump replied, “Yes.” However, he warned that it’s currently unsafe for people to be outside.
'Biggest surprise so far'
Trump said he was shocked that Iran expanded its attacks to Arab countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.According to him, those countries were expected to stay mostly out of the conflict.
“We told them, ‘We’ve got this,’” Trump said.
But after Iran allegedly fired at civilian buildings, including a hotel and an apartment block, regional leaders became more aggressive. He added that the Iranian nuclear threat has hung over the region “like a dark cloud” for years, making peace difficult.
Who’s leading Iran now?
Trump claimed that early US strikes killed 49 Iranian leaders.He detailed that they were targeted while meeting together.
“It was an amazing strike,” he said
Among those killed were figures considered close to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader. Trump said it’s now unclear who is in charge.
“They don’t even know who’s leading them now,” he said.
Why negotiations failed
Trump said his team tried to negotiate with Iran, but talks collapsed. He claimed Iran refused to stop enriching uranium, a key step in developing nuclear weapons.
“This is the way to deal with Iran,” he said, defending military action over diplomacy.
He also criticised the nuclear deal brokered under Barack Obama, calling it “a pathway to a bomb.”
A long-running conflict
Trump framed the current operation as part of a decades-long struggle with Iran, dating back to the 1979 revolution.
He pointed to the 2020 US drone strike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, saying it was a major turning point.
“We took out Soleimani last time. He was an unbelievably violent general” Trump said.
He also referenced “Midnight Hammer,” a 2025 US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon.
Trump says, “It’s going good”
Despite rising tensions across the region, Trump ended the interview on a confident note.
“So it’s going good,” he said before hanging up.
Whether the “big wave” he warned about will escalate the conflict further remains to be seen.
Articles on the Iran attack
- The US and Israel have launched a joint military strike on Iran, with explosions reported in Tehran and several other cities. President Trump called it “ a major combat operation” to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, while Israel declared a state of emergency.
- Iran's state broadcaster, Press TV, provided an update on Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei's wife following the attack on the country. Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, the wife of the deceased Iranian supreme leader, was injured during the strikes.
Source: Getty Images
Briefly News also reported that Iran launched strikes on a US naval base in Bahrain and fired missiles across the Middle East in retaliation for a US-Israel attack. Several countries, including Qatar, Jordan, and the UAE, intercepted missiles, though debris caused damage and one civilian death in Abu Dhabi.
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Source: Briefly News
