The United States has already delivered a decisive blow to Iran's military and leadership, but the conflict cannot end until Tehran is permanently blocked from obtaining a nuclear weapon, President Donald Trump said Thursday in an extensive interview with Newsmax's Greta Van Susteren.
"We've already won, but I want to win by a bigger margin," Trump said. "We have destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force, destroyed all of their — if you look at their anti-aircraft equipment, their radar equipment, their leadership. Their leadership is destroyed. We've destroyed everything."
Trump described Iran as severely weakened both militarily and economically, saying only firm guarantees against nuclear development will secure a lasting outcome.
Still, he said, Iran's capacities to recover from inflicted damage have been severely degraded. "If we leave right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild, if they ever could rebuild," he said.
Still, Trump said military gains alone are not sufficient.
"But it's actually not good enough," he said. "We have to have guarantees they will never have a nuclear weapon."
Trump said he believes Iran would use a nuclear weapon if it acquired one.
"I will tell you that Iran would use the nuclear weapon if they had it," he said. "I deal with these people. I know people. They will use their nuclear weapon, and we're not going to give them a chance to do it."
He also dismissed past proposals to provide Iran with nuclear material for civilian use.
"I wouldn't have approved that. I wouldn't have. I'm not giving them anything," Trump said. "They're going to either have a nuclear weapon, or they're not. And if they do, they're in big trouble."
Trump said Iran is already facing severe economic pressure.
"Right now, their economy is collapsing, inflation is at close to 100%," he said. "They can't do any oil because we have a blockade that's 100% effective."
He added that international reaction has been broadly supportive, while criticizing allies for not taking stronger action.
"I actually think it's very popular what I'm doing," Trump said. "The world is thanking me, because I shouldn't be the one that's doing it. Other presidents should have done it long before me, and other countries should have done it."
Trump also said NATO did not provide meaningful assistance.
"We were not helped by NATO at all," he said.
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