Amid a fragile Iran war ceasefire, President Donald Trump claimed that leaders in Tehran understand they have no credible path to victory.
“I call it a skirmish because Iran has no chance,” Trump said Tuesday morning during an event in the Oval Office. “They never did. They know. They express it to me when I talk to them.”
“Then they get on television, they say how well they’re doing, and they have no navy, totally wiped out, they have no air force, totally wiped out,” he continued. “They have no anti-aircraft capability, totally wiped out.
The president also claimed Tehran has “no leaders.”
“I read the papers, and they say how well they’re doing,” Trump said. “They’re not doing well,” adding to reporters, “that’s why you have no credibility.”
The Iran war ceasefire nearly fell apart on Monday after Tehran attacked two U.S. Navy destroyers and launched a missile attack against the United Arab Emirates.
In retaliation, Trump claimed Iran would “be blown off the face of the earth” on Monday.
A day later, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted the ceasefire is still holding strong.
“No, the ceasefire is not over,” Hegseth said on Tuesday.
CEASEFIRE IS ONGOING DESPITE IRAN’S MISSILE ATTACKS: HEGSETH
The war has now lasted for nine weeks. Peace talks between the United States and Iran have fallen apart, with no clear end in sight for the war.
But high gas prices resulting from Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz have put pressure on the GOP to end the war before the November midterm elections.