US President Donald Trump provides a speech about the economic system at the Coosa Steel Corporation manufacturing unit in Rome, Georgia, on February 19, 2026. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP by way of Getty Images) – Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump advised NCS in a nine-minute telephone interview Monday morning that the US navy is “knocking the crap” out of Iran – however the “big wave” is yet to come.
“We’re knocking the crap out of them,” Trump advised NCS’s Jake Tapper. “I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it.”
Trump addressed a variety of matters in the interview, together with the anticipated size of the battle, his shock at Iran’s widespread retaliation and the nation’s anticipated succession plan.
On how lengthy the war would possibly final, the president stated, “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.”
Asked if the US is doing extra past the navy assault to assist the Iranian folks regain management of their nation from the regime, Trump stated, “Yes.”
“We are indeed. But right now we want everyone staying inside. It’s not safe out there.”
And it’s about to get even much less secure, the president stated.
“We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”
The ‘biggest surprise’ to date
So far, the president stated, “the biggest surprise” has been Iran’s assaults in opposition to Arab international locations in the area: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates
“We were surprised,” Trump stated. “We told them, ‘We’ve got this,’ and now they want to fight. And they’re aggressively fighting. They were going to be very little involved and now they insist on being involved.”
Of the Arab leaders, the president advised NCS, “I know these people. They’re tough and smart.”
The Iranians, he stated, “shot into a hotel, they shot into an apartment house. It just made them angry. They love us, but they were watching. There was no reason for them to be involved.”
Of Iran’s assaults on them, he stated “that was probably the biggest surprise.”
Trump pointed to the Iranian nuclear risk as having been a serious difficulty in the area for a while.
“You have to understand, they were living under that dark cloud for years. That’s why you could never have peace,” he stated.
Succession in Iran
On who would possibly emerge to lead Iran, Trump stated, “We don’t know who the leadership is. We don’t know who they’ll pick. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing.”
The Iranians, he stated, misplaced “a lot in terms of leadership” due to the preliminary strikes.
“Forty-nine people,” Trump stated. “It was an amazing strike.”
“They got a little bit arrogant” by assembly all in one place, he added. “They thought they were undetectable. They weren’t undetectable. We were shocked by it.”
Trump stated it was unclear who was now main the nation.
“They don’t even know who’s leading them now,” Trump stated. “We went down 49” Iranian leaders.
“Those were the leaders, and some of them were being considered,” Trump stated. But with greater than 4 dozen killed, “we don’t know who’s leading the country now. They don’t know who’s leading. It’s a little like the unemployment line.”
‘We couldn’t make a deal with these folks’
The president stated that his workforce tried to negotiate with the Iranians however “we couldn’t make a deal with these people.” Every new provide, he stated, was met with a walk-back of earlier affords.
The Iranians wouldn’t agree to finish their enrichment of uranium, Trump stated.
“They had all that enriched stuff. They looked at redoing it there, but it was in such bad shape, the mountain had basically collapsed,” Trump stated.
Trump stated of his navy motion: “This is the way” to deal with Iran.
“We don’t have to worry about agreements.” He pointed to the nation’s lengthy historical past of inflicting destruction in the area after the 1979 revolution.
“You go back 37 years, really 47 years, close to 50, look at what’s happened and all the death. People in the military walking around with no legs, walking around with no arms, their faces shattered,” he stated.
Trump stated he requested his workforce for an inventory of all the Iranian or Iranian-backed assaults in opposition to the US and US allies and pursuits.
“Over the last 47 years. I said, ‘give me all of the attacks.’ If I told you all of them I’d still be talking,” he stated.
The newest navy operation is a part of a long-term marketing campaign to eradicate the Iranian risk, Trump stated. “We took out Soleimani last time,” referring to the January 3, 2020, US drone strike in opposition to Iranian main common Qasem Soleimani. “He was an unbelievably violent, vicious general.”
The strike in opposition to Soleimani “was a big move,” the president stated. “If that didn’t happen, then you might not have Israel today. Israel might not exist.”
Then “we had Midnight Hammer – very important,” the president stated, referring to the June 2025 US strikes on Iranian nuclear amenities. “They were a month away from having a nuclear weapon.”
Criticizing President Barack Obama’s nuclear weapons deal, the president stated “it was the Iran nuclear deal because it gave all the power to Iran. They would have had a nuclear weapon three or four years ago. They would have used it against Israel. They maybe would have used it against us.”
“That deal was so bad,” Trump stated, “it was a pathway to a bomb.”
In the newest talks, the Iranians “weren’t willing to give us what we asked for. They should have done it.”
“So it’s going good,” Trump stated, earlier than getting off the telephone.
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