Trump says US sank 10 ships in Iran strike, ‘last, best chance’ to act

President Donald Trump Monday said the United States and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran was "our last, best chance to strike" to "eliminate the intolerable threats" posed by Tehran.

The United States and Israel launched the operation against Iran Saturday known as Operation Epic Fury. The attacks left major Iranian leaders dead, including its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. will continue the operation with "ferocious, unyielding resolve," Trump said, adding that the U.S. already has sunk 10 of Iran's naval vessels in addition to eliminating 49 of its top leaders.

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The operation is expected to carry on for days, as the U.S. military continues to target military targets and ballistic missile sites that pose an "imminent threat."

Trump warned against Iranian retaliation, saying that if Iran were to "hit very hard," it would be met with "a force that has never been seen before."

During a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House Monday, the president touted his success in combating the threats posed by Iran —during both his second administration and his first.

"I was very proud to have knocked out the Iran nuclear deal by President Barack Hussein Obama," Trump said. "That was a horrible, horrible, dangerous document. They would have had nuclear weapons three years ago." 

The president said that Iran, "for almost 47 years" has been "attacking the United States and killing Americans."

"Every time you see someone with missing arms and legs or a face that’s been absolutely shattered violently — it was almost certainly caused by an Iran roadside bomb," Trump said. "They were put there by General Soleimani, who was the father of the roadside bomb … But I terminated him in my first term." 

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Trump was referring to Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Trump ordered the January 2020 strike that killed Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport

Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, according to the State Department.

Soleimani was the long-running leader of the elite intelligence wing called Quds Force — which itself has been a designated terror group since 2007 and is estimated to be 20,000 strong. Considered one of the most powerful men in Iran, he routinely was referred to as its "shadow commander" or "spymaster."

"This was our last, best chance to strike what we're doing right now and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime," the president said Monday. "And they are indeed sick and sinister."

Trump declared that the United States’ "objectives are clear."

"First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities, and you see that happening on an hourly basis and their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make," the president said. "Second, we're annihilating their Navy. We've knocked out already ten ships. They're at the bottom of the sea."

"Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon," he said. "They are never going to have a nuclear weapon. I said that from the beginning. They're never going to have a nuclear weapon. They were on the road to getting one legitimately through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country."

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Finally, the president said, the United States is "ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders."

"And we thought we had a deal, but then they backed out and and they came back and we thought we had a deal and they backed out," Trump said. "I said, you can't deal with these people. You got to do it the right way."

The Pentagon confirmed that the United States deployed B-2 stealth bombers armed with 2,000-pound bombs as part of the Operation Epic Fury campaign.

The president Monday also honored the lives of four "heroic" American service members.

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"Today we grieve for the four heroic American service members who have been killed in action and send our love and support to their families," the president said. "In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people and a threat, indeed it is."

The president said the United States has "the strongest and most powerful by far military in the world, and we will easily prevail."

"We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always, and we have, right from the beginning, we projected 4 to 5 weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that," Trump continued. "We'll do it."

He added: "Please join me in thanking every American service member who bravely is standing in harm's way. They really are incredible."