Trump says war with Iran is ‘virtually’ over, but Pentagon says ‘we’ve only just begun’

He also claimed that the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel had severely damaged Iran’s military capabilities.

Mixed messages

Despite Trump’s comments suggesting the war was almost over, messages from US defense officials indicated a different reality.

A rapid response report from the U.S. Department of Defense published in

Trump himself later delivered stronger comments while speaking to House Republicans in Florida.

“We have already won in many ways, but not enough,” he said. “We move forward more determined than ever to achieve final victory,” Trump added.

At a later press conference, he added that the United States would not stop until the enemy was “totally and decisively defeated.”

Claims about Iran’s military strength

Trump also offered conflicting assessments of Iran’s remaining military power. In an interview, he claimed that Iran had effectively lost all of its military capabilities. “They have no navy, no communications, no air force,” he said, adding that Iran had “shot everything they had to shoot.”

However, during the same press conference, he appeared to soften those claims, saying that “most of Iran’s naval power has been sunk” and that the country’s missile capacity had been reduced to “around 10 percent,” according to cnn information.

He also suggested that Iran’s drone capabilities had decreased significantly and could soon be eliminated.

Controversial comments about Iran’s leadership

Trump’s comments about Iran’s leadership were similarly inconsistent. At one point, he said that Iran had lost all of its leadership, but later clarified that “two levels of leadership have disappeared.”

Iran recently named the late Khamenei’s second eldest son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as its new supreme leader following the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said he was disappointed by the election, suggesting it would lead to “more of the same problem for the country.”

Controversy over comments about school bombing

Trump also faced scrutiny for comments he made about a deadly attack on an elementary school in Iran.

Over the weekend, he suggested that Iran itself was responsible for the attack, despite reports that the attack may have involved a US weapon.

When asked about the claim at a later news conference, Trump softened his stance, saying he did not have enough information and that the incident was still under investigation.

“I just didn’t know enough about it,” he said, adding that he would accept the research results once they were published.