President Donald Trump has defended recent US military action against Iran, saying Tehran's armed forces had been severely weakened and asserting that Iran would never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. Speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference, Trump said his administration had achieved what previous presidents could not.
"Last week, we signed a historic agreement to accomplish what no president has ever been able to accomplish before -- that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. He claimed Iran's military capacity had been badly damaged. "Iran today has no Navy, no Air Force, no anti-aircraft capability, no radar, virtually no manufacturing," Trump said.
He also said Iran's drone, missile and rocket-launching capacity had been sharply reduced. "Their drone capacity has been cut by 82 percent. Their missile capacity has been cut by 80 percent. Their rocket launchers have been cut by 90 percent," he said.
Trump said Iran's leadership had also suffered major losses. "Their leadership has been killed a first time, and their leadership has been killed a second time. And nobody wants to be the leader of Iran anymore," he said. The President said Tehran was now seeking a deal with Washington.
"They're dying to make a deal. They're giving us a lot," Trump said. He linked the recent military action to his broader argument that Iran must never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon. "We've got to stop them from having a nuclear weapon," he said.
"Because you want to see problems? Let a crazy country have a nuclear weapon, you'll see problems like you've never seen before." Trump also referred to the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani during his first term. He said Soleimani was responsible for roadside bombs that had maimed American soldiers.
"When you see a young man or woman walking around without legs or without arms or a face that was obliterated, it happened from the roadside bomb that was created, the creation of General Soleimani, who I killed in my first term," Trump said.
He called Soleimani's killing "one of the biggest things ever to happen in the Middle East." Trump also said Iran still retained limited ability to strike, referring to an incident near the Strait of Hormuz. "They can still shoot," he said. "You know, they shot a drone yesterday at a big ship going into the Hormuz Strait.
They shot four of them, we knocked down three of them." He said one drone hit a ship and caused damage. "But you can't do that stuff," Trump said. The remarks were part of a wide-ranging speech in which Trump addressed religion, immigration, election reform, the economy and national security.
He repeatedly said his administration was acting to defend US interests and American values. Trump said the United States had the strongest military in the world and was using it when necessary. "We're once again using it to defend America's interests and American values," he said.