Iran’s naval headquarters was also ‘largely destroyed’ in the operation, the president says.
President Donald Trump on Sunday afternoon said that the U.S. military has sunk nine Iranian naval ships and “largely destroyed” the regime’s naval headquarters amid airstrikes that took out its leadership.
“I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We are going after the rest—they will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters.”
Hours later, Trump confirmed to NBC News that three U.S. military members died in the operation and said that the administration expects casualties. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Central Command wrote that three service members died and five more were “seriously injured” as Iran retaliated.
“But in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world,” Trump told the outlet, adding that there are a number of good outcomes from the airstrikes.
“Number one is decapitating them, getting rid of their whole group of killers and thugs,” Trump said. “And there are many, many outcomes. We could do the short version or the longer version.”
The strikes against Iran killed the regime’s top Islamist leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a large number of other top leaders in the operation. Trump told NBC that 48 leaders in the regime were killed and described the military incursion as “ahead of schedule.”
“They weren’t willing to stop their nuclear research,” he said in response to why the U.S. military is conducting the strikes. “They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon.”
The U.S. military, meanwhile, has said B-2 stealth bombers have struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Also Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that his country would start ramping up strikes against Iran in the coming days.
The Trump administration and Iranian officials had been engaged in talks to end its nuclear program, which officials had long said was designed to produce a nuclear weapon, before the strikes were launched. In mid-February, the president signaled that the Iranian regime had 10 to 15 days to come to a deal.
