US President Trump has suggested that the war with Iran could last up to four weeks, but added it is “ahead of schedule”.
During an interview with CNN to discuss what the US has dubbed Operation Epic Fury, he said: “I don’t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks. And we’re a little ahead of schedule.
"We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
And, in a separate interview with the New York Post, he claimed he had no objection in principle to sending American troops into Iran, but suggested such a scenario was unlikely.
"I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it," he explained.
"I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary'."
Meanwhile, in his own media round, Vice President Vance offered some more insight into the US' war aims.
While Trump has spoken openly about regime change in Iran, Vance suggested that the aim was to change the Islamic Republic's "mindset" away from pursuing a nuclear weapon.
"We set them back substantially, but I think the president was looking for the long haul. He was looking for Iran to make a significant long-term commitment that they would never build a nuclear weapon," he told Fox News.
"He saw that the Iranian regime was weakened, he knew that they were committed to getting on that brink of a nuclear weapon, and he decided to take action because he felt that was necessary in order to protect the nation’s security.
"There’s just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.
"He’s defined the objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long-term to never trying to rebuild their nuclear capability."
Trump has, though, suggested that the war could continue for several weeks.
"It's always been about a four-week process so - as strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks - or less," he said in a press conference on Sunday.
This was apparently supported by Israeli public broadcaster Kan, which reported that the conflict could last until Pesach, which begins on April 1.
Iran has continued counterstrikes in the Gulf states into this morning. Washington confirmed that its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, came under attack from Iranian drones overnight.
The State Department has called all American nationals in most of the region to evacuate.
The department released a list of 14 nations, including Israel, which Americans should leave as soon as possible. Mike Huckabee, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, has suggested that US citizens should leave via Egypt.
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