Donald Trump has suggested the U.S. bombardment of Iran that wiped out most of the country’s leadership hasn’t yet reached its peak, according to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Kate Bolduan, anchor of CNN News Central, paused her interview with Trump’s former national security adviser on Monday morning to allow Tapper to call in and describe a nine-minute phone call he had with the so-called “Peace President” about the Middle East conflict.
“He said, quote, ‘We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon,’” Tapper said.
Tapper also said Trump was gleefully boasting, “We’re knocking the crap out of them,” since the U.S. and Israel launched joint “major combat operations” in Iran over the weekend.
“I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful. They’ve got the greatest military in the world, and we’re using it,” Tapper quoted Trump as saying.
When asked how long the president expects the war in Iran to last, Trump replied: “I don’t want to see it go on too long. I always thought it would be four weeks, and we’re a little ahead of schedule.”
Trump’s vow that the “big wave” of attacks against Iran is yet to come came after Tapper asked if the U.S. is doing anything beyond the military assault to help the Iranian people force regime change in the country, after Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed in the U.S.–Israel strikes.
“We are indeed. But right now we want everyone staying inside. It’s not safe out there,” Trump said.
In a write-up of the phone interview on CNN’s website, Trump was reported to have admitted that officials “don’t know” who is leading Iran after Khamenei and several other senior members of Iran’s leadership were killed in Tehran over the weekend.
“We don’t know who they’ll pick. Maybe they’ll get lucky and get someone who knows what they’re doing,” Trump said. “We don’t know who’s leading the country now. They don’t know who’s leading. It’s a little like the unemployment line.”
Trump did not appear to mention the four U.S. troops killed in the first days of the war.
While discussing the phone call with Tapper, Bolduan asked her CNN colleague how Trump “sounds” as the war in Iran unfolds.
“He sounded very pleased with how the operation is going. He sounded very resolute in terms of the Iranian threats to the region and the world,” Tapper said.
“We’re only on day three of this operation, and the president is projecting, at least possibly, that this military operation will last about a month. Although, obviously, that’s not a firm and set time period. So there’s a lot more to come.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
