President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States and Israel joint military operations A strike against Iran is “our last and best chance to strike” to “eliminate the intolerable threat posed by Tehran.”

The United States and Israel on Saturday launched a “… “Operation Epic Fury”.

The attacks killed key Iranian leaders, including its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The operation is expected to last several days as U.S. forces continue to target military targets and ballistic missile sites that pose an “imminent threat.”

President Donald Trump speaks about Iran before the Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 2, 2026. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Trump warned Iran against retaliation, saying if Iran “strike very hard” it would be met with “unprecedented force.”

During a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House on Monday, the president praised his success in countering the threat posed by Iran during his second and first administrations.

“I’m very proud of President Barack Hussein Obama for scrapping the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said. “That was a terrible, terrible, dangerous document. Three years ago they would have had nuclear weapons.”

The president said Iran has been “attacking the United States and killing Americans” for “nearly 47 years.”

“Whenever you see someone losing arms and legs, or their face being completely shattered, it’s almost certainly from an Iranian roadside bomb,” Trump said. “They were put there by General Soleimani, who was the father of roadside bombs… but I terminated him in my first term.”

Hegseth sets out ‘clear’ three-part mission against Iran, says war ‘is not endless’

Trump is referring to Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Trump ordered a January 2020 airstrike at Baghdad International Airport that killed Soleimani

According to the U.S. State Department, Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. and coalition service members and the injuries of thousands more.

Soleimani was the longtime leader of an elite intelligence group known as the Quds Force, which has been designated a terrorist organization since 2007 and has an estimated 20,000 members. He is considered one of the most powerful men in Iran and is often referred to as Iran’s “shadow commander” or “spy chief.”

Screenshot of President Donald Trump providing an update on the ongoing Epic Fury campaign. (social truth)

“This is our last and best chance to fight what we’re doing now and eliminate the intolerable threat posed by this sick and sinister regime,” the president said Monday. “And they are indeed sick and sinister.”

Trump declared that the United States’ “goals are clear.”

“First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, and you see that happening every hour, and their ability to produce brand new missiles and pretty good missiles,” the president said. “Second, we’re destroying their navy. We’ve knocked out ten ships. They’ve sunk to the bottom of the ocean.”

“Third, we want to ensure that the world’s largest sponsor of terror never acquires a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They will never have nuclear weapons. I’ve said that from the beginning. They will never have nuclear weapons. They are getting them legally through an agreement that our country foolishly signed.”

A U.S. Navy ship launches Tomahawk land-attack missiles in support of Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Central Command Public Affairs)

Flashback: Trump says Soleimani should have been killed ‘years ago’ and he was ‘hated’ in Iran

Finally, the president said the United States is “ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and command terrorist armies abroad.”

“We thought we had a deal, but then they backed out, and then they came back, and we thought we had a deal, but then they backed out,” Trump said. “I said, you can’t deal with these people. You’ve got to do it the right way.”

The Pentagon confirmed that the United States deployed B-2 stealth bombers equipped with 2,000-pound bombs as part of Operation Epic Fury.

Trump said the United States would continue the operation with “ferocious, unyielding determination,” adding that in addition to killing 49 of Iran’s top leaders, the United States had sunk 10 Iranian naval vessels.

The president also paid tribute to the lives of four “heroic” American service members on Monday.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits next to Iran’s top military officials. (Getty Images)

Iran’s nearly half-century of war against Americans

“Today, we mourn the four heroic American service members who lost their lives in action and extend our love and support to their families,” the president said. “In their memory, we continue to carry out this mission with ferocious and unyielding determination to crush the threat, and indeed a threat, this terror regime poses to the American people.”

The president said the United States has “by far the most powerful military in the world and we will win easily.”

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“We’ve gone far beyond our timing forecast, but whatever the timing is, it doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes, we always will, and we projected four to five weeks from the beginning, but we have the ability to go much longer,” Trump continued. “We’ll do it.”

He added: “Please join me in thanking every American service member who bravely faces danger. They are truly incredible.”

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