Trump Says Iran Has Been 'Knocked Out,' Denies Israel Forced U.S.' Hand on Strikes

President Donald Trump said Iran’s military forces have been “knocked out” after four days of strikes from the U.S. and Israel. “[Iran] has no navy, it’s been knocked out. They have no air force, that’s been knocked out. They have no air detection, that’s been knocked out,” he claimed. “Their radar has been knocked out. Just about everything’s been knocked out.” The U.S. President delivered the assessment of the war, which he described as “coming along very well,” during a press conference with visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office Tuesday. “They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left, and so they’re going to be in for a lot of hurt,” he continued. Heralding the military operation which resulted in the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Trump suggested that some within the surviving Iranian leadership want to lay down arms. “A lot of people are coming forward. A lot of the people, you would least suspect, want to quit. They’re asking for immunity, and probably at some point they’ll be dropping, as you would say, laying down their guns. We’ll see what happens,” he claimed. Iran has offered no public indication that it is ready to lay down arms, and has continued launching retaliatory strikes against Gulf states. Trump was then asked by reporters if Israel had forced the hand of the U.S. to launch military action against Iran early Saturday—a circulating theory the President was quick to refute. “No, I might have forced their hand. It was my opinion that they [Iran] were going to attack first… If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that,” he said, arguing the U.S. operation was launched as a pre-emptive measure. “Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a very, very powerful impact.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said the U.S. was aware of Israeli strikes set for Iran and indicated that information had informed its decision to launch the strikes. “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act,” Rubio told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “We knew that if Iran was attacked—and we believe they would be attacked—that they would immediately come after us,” he said. Merz, meanwhile, echoed many of his European peers when asked about the conflict, which is devastating the global trade of oil and gas and impacting markets in Europe. The German lawmaker said he hopes the conflict will “come to an end as soon as possible.” But Trump did not offer a timeline on that front. “We’re just continuing to go forward,” he said. Read More: As Oil Tankers Come Under Attack, Experts Fear for Global Trade Through Strait of Hormuz Read More: As Oil Tankers Come Under Attack, Experts Fear for Global Trade Through Strait of Hormuz Six U.S. military personnel have been killed so far during the conflict, with others seriously wounded. Trump has referred to the fallen service members as “true American patriots.” The strikes have killed over 780 people in Iran as of Tuesday, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. Since aerial attacks began over the weekend, Iran—alongside its proxy ally Hezbollah in Lebanon— has launched retaliatory strikes on Israel. Israel has responded to attacks from Hezbollah by expanding its military operation and deploying troops on the ground in the south of Lebanon.