Trump says Iran war will end soon, expects 'total victory'

Detailed summary

US President Donald Trump said the conflict with Iran would end soon but insisted Washington wanted a complete victory, saying Tehran would need 25 years to rebuild what US forces…

US President Donald Trump said the conflict with Iran would end soon but insisted Washington wanted a complete victory, saying Tehran would need 25 years to rebuild what US forces had destroyed.

Speaking at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, Trump defended the military campaign against Iran and accused Tehran of decades of hostility toward the United States.

"America did not start a war with Iran. Iran has been waging war on America since 1979," Trump said.

"We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 percent victory," he added.

Trump said American forces had already defeated Iran militarily and suggested Washington could decide when to bring the conflict to an end.

The president estimated that Iran would need 25 years to rebuild what American forces had destroyed and expressed hope that further destruction would be unnecessary.

He said the US military campaign against Iran had involved only a few weeks of intense fighting and that 18 American service members had been killed.

Trump also credited American B-2 bombers with preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, repeating his assertion that US strikes had eliminated Tehran's nuclear threat.

"When this conflict is over, and it will be soon, the entire world will be a much safer and better place," Trump said.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Iran International. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.