U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview Tuesday that Iran is running out of crucial armaments and launchers as US airstrikes continue to degrade Tehran's military capacity, according to a report by POLITICO.
In a roughly four-minute phone call with the news outlet, Trump argued that while Iranian forces are expected to "keep lobbing missiles for a while," their capabilities are being steadily decimated. "They're running out and they're running out of areas to shoot them, because they're being decimated. They're running out of launchers," Trump said.
The president's assertion had not been mentioned during a Monday Pentagon briefing or publicly by any other administration officials. His comments came as the US and the Middle East brace for continued missile and drone attacks from Iran, which has retaliated in waves since the conflict erupted early Saturday.
Trump stated that US defense companies are "on a rapid tear to build the various things we need," adding "They're under emergency orders. We're making it fast. But we have unlimited" ammunition supplies. However, Senator Richard Blumenthal warned of a "potential desperate and disastrous shortage of THAAD and Patriot systems that are necessary to protect our embassies, our bases, our civilians."
The president suggested the war could last four or five weeks or be over in a few more days. He also expressed openness to working with a reconfigured Iranian government if one emerges from the conflict. "New ones are emerging. A lot of people want the job. Some of them would be very good," Trump said.
US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait announced closures Tuesday, with the State Department warning Americans across the Middle East to leave the region as the war entered its fourth day.
