US President Donald Trump has several “off ramps” that he can take to end Operation Epic Fury, Trump told Axios on Saturday.
"I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs]," Trump said.
"In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack."
According to Trump, Operation Epic Fury was launched for two reasons: the first being the collapse of the US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva, and the second being that the regime had begun to rebuild the nuclear facilities that had been struck during the Israel-Iran war in June.
"The Iranians got close and then pulled back - close and then pulled back. I understood from that that they don't really want a deal," Trump explained.
Iran-linked attacks around the world every month for 25 years, Trump says
Additionally, while preparing his speech announcing the operation, Trump requested his team compile a list of every Iranian-linked attack around the world over the past 25 years, and found that “every month they did something bad, blew something up or killed someone.”
Trump insisted that if the strikes against Iran last June - named Operation Midnight Hammer - hadn't happened, Iran could have developed a nuclear weapon by now.
The president told Axios that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are “on the same wavelength” regarding the joint operation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that Trump spoke with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.