President Donald Trump estimates Iran has retained about one-fifth of its missiles as he gave an assessment on where the country’s military stands as peace talks continue.
“Most of the drone factories have been knocked out, most of the launching pads have been knocked out, and most of the missile manufacturing areas have been knocked out. But they still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage-wise, maybe 21-22% of their missiles,” Trump said in a clip of his interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, set to air Sunday.
Trump told the program that the ballpark figure was “a lot of missiles, but it’s not what it was when we first attacked.” After first striking in late February, the United States and Israel have been in a delicate ceasefire with Iran since April 8 as the countries’ delegations negotiate for a more permanent peace deal.
Trump discussed the peace negotiation process with the outlet, saying he thinks the Iranian regime has not agreed to the U.S.’s terms yet because “they can’t believe they’re in the situation where they’ve been virtually decapitated.”
“They’re strong, they’re proud, there are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” Trump said. “You’re talking about 47 years of getting away with whatever they wanted. I mean, we should, this should have been done long ago. This should have been done by other presidents or other countries.”
The Trump administration has said that eradicating the Iranian military’s strike capacity and nuclear program is a main priority of the peace negotiations and what prompted the military expedition to begin with.
The portion of the pre-recorded interview aired Friday evening, as news broke that the U.S. Central Command shot down several Iranian drones headed toward the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said the four Iranian attack drones “posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic” in the crucial oil-shipping waterway; a central goal of the Trump administration’s peace aims has been securing the strait. Hours later, CENTCOM announced it had intercepted several ballistic missiles headed for Kuwait and Bahrain.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN WAR WILL RESTART IF TEHRAN KILLS MORE US TROOPS
The Friday scuffle occurred at the end of a tenuous week in the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire agreement, as the U.S. shot down Iranian strikes headed toward Kuwait and Bahrain on Monday.
The House also formally voted to invoke the War Powers Act on Wednesday, with four Republicans joining Democrats to pass the resolution to flex congressional power over the war in Iran.
