(VOICE OF NAIJA)- President Donald Trump has issued a sobering assessment regarding the potential duration of military hostilities, suggesting that a conflict could “last weeks.” Beyond the immediate military engagement, the President noted that establishing a successor government presents significant challenges, citing “contradictory visions” for how a new regime would operate and maintain regional stability.
He said the country’s hardened military should simply surrender their weapons to the Iranian public.
President Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. military intends to sustain its assault on Iran for “four to five weeks” if necessary, insisting that it “won’t be difficult” for Israel and the United States to maintain the intensity of the battle even as he warned of the possibility of more American casualties.
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In a brief telephone interview with The New York Times, Mr. Trump offered several seemingly contradictory visions of how power might be transferred to a new government — or even whether the existing Iranian power structure would run that government or be overthrown.
The assault on Iran is considered far more complex and risky than the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, who was Venezuela’s leader, in part because Iran’s leadership oversees extensive military abilities and because of deep divides in Iranian society over the country’s course. And unlike Venezuela, Iran has sustained an active nuclear program.
Among the options he suggested was an outcome similar to what he engineered in Venezuela, in which only the top leader was removed during an American military strike and much of the rest of the government remained in place, but newly willing to work pragmatically with the United States.
The interview with Mr. Trump seemed to reflect the degree to which his administration remains uncertain about how the next few weeks will unfold, both on the battlefield and in the creation of a replacement government in Tehran.
But he insisted the Pentagon retained plenty of forces, missiles and bombs to sustain the military assault “if we have to.”