US-Israel-Iran war: Trump says acted on 'last best chance' to hit Iran after failed talks
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "US-Israel-Iran war: Trump says acted on 'last best chance' to hit Iran after failed talks")
US President Donald Trump speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 2, 2026, in Washington, DC. Photograph: (AFP)
Trump said that the US attack on Iran is meeting its goals ahead of schedule, but also warned the war could go "far longer" than his initial estimates of about a month.
President Donald Trump on Monday (Mar 02) said the United States "continues to carry out large-scale combat operations" in Iran and stated our aims are clear: first, destroying Tehran's missile capabilities," second, preventing the Islamic Republic from making nuclear weapons and third, "ensuring it cannot fund or direct armies outside its borders"
He further said Washington acted on 'last best chance' to hit the Islamic Republic and claimed that "we are 'substantially ahead' of timeline in Iran war adding that "We projected four to five weeks", but the United States is able to "fight Iran war far beyond 4-5 weeks."
"We're already substantially ahead of our time projections," Trump said at the White House, adding: “From the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it.”
The president stated that, “We warned Iran not to rebuild at a different location” after we blew up nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025, but they went ahead, Trump claimed, adding that "an Iran with nuclear weapons would be intolerable to the US".
These statements come after US-Israeli operations in Iran entered its third day on Monday after assassinating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a precision strike on a high-security compound in Tehran. Several other top leaders were also killed after the US and Israel launched a massive coordinated aerial campaign on Saturday.
Also Read: 'Will defend our six-thousand-year-old civilisation': Iran ready for 'long war' with the US-Israel
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The strikes, codenamed Operation Roaring Lion by Israel and Operation Epic Fury by the United States, targeted government buildings, military installations, and suspected nuclear facilities, while aiming specifically to decapitate the highest levels of Iranian leadership.
In retaliation, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched strikes on Israel, US military bases and its allies across West Asia, including Qatar, Iraq, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
After a series of attacks and counterattacks, the conflict in West Asia expanded beyond the region after the Iranian military struck a British military base in Cyprus and a French naval base known as Camp de la Paix in Abu Dhabi, risking participation of major European countries, including France, the UK and Germany, who vowed to protect their interests in the region.
(Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing conflicts in West Asia involving Israel, Iran, US, Gulf nations and non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, Islamic State, and others. Claims and counterclaims, disinformation and misinformation are being made online and offline. Given this context, WION cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, social media posts, photos and videos.)
