U.S. President Donald Trump stated on the 2nd regarding military operations against Iran, “We expected it to take 4 to 5 weeks, but we have the ability to sustain the operation longer than that,” adding, “It doesn’t matter how long it takes. We will accomplish whatever we set out to do.” Trump hinted at the possibility of a medium- to long-term conflict, saying, “Something bigger is coming.” He also took an open stance on deploying ground forces, a taboo topic among conservatives since the Iraq War, stating, “I don’t have any yips about that.” While Trump had repeatedly asserted before his re-election, “There will be no war during my term,” he has shown no hesitation to intervene militarily worldwide since taking office.
In an interview with the New York Post the same day, Trump said, “I don’t have any yips regarding ground forces,” and added, “All previous presidents have uniformly said, ‘There will be no deployment of ground forces,’ but I will not say that.” Although U.S. forces initially neutralized key facilities with overwhelming firepower, as Trump noted, completely eliminating Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities and achieving regime change would require ground force deployment. No past war has achieved regime change through airstrikes alone.
