Trump says Iran’s military will take 25 years to rebuild, calls for ‘total victory’

”We won” – President Trump declares victory over Iran but adds US needs to ”make sure we have a total victory, not 93%.”

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the United States had effectively won its war against Iran, while warning against destructive political ideologies in a Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery.

Speaking before veterans, military families and senior administration officials, Trump defended his military campaign against Tehran, suggested the conflict could soon conclude and pledged to protect the United States from domestic threats.

“We’re not going to allow anyone to hurt or damage our country with bad, foolish, horrible ideology,” Trump said, adding that his audience understood whom he was referring to.

Although the president did not explicitly name Democrats, his comments came just over a week after the party secured control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections, dealing Republicans a major political setback.

The incoming Democratic majorities are expected to launch investigations into the Trump administration, including its conduct of the war against Iran and other controversial policies.

Trump also devoted a substantial portion of his address to defending the military campaign against the Islamic Republic, which began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28.

The president argued that Tehran’s decades of hostility toward Washington justified the conflict, pointing to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 American service members.

He recognized Marine veteran Dale Garner, who survived the Beirut attack, and condemned Iran’s longstanding sponsorship of terrorism.

Trump maintained that the United States had not initiated hostilities with Iran, but had instead responded to decades of Iranian aggression that previous administrations failed to confront.

“We fought back, and we seriously fought back. And we won,” the president declared.

Despite proclaiming victory, Trump indicated that the conflict would continue until Washington achieved all its objectives, rejecting the possibility of settling for a partial military success.

He insisted that the United States would achieve a “total victory,” rather than accept a result that left substantial Iranian military capabilities intact.

“It’s just a question of when we end it. I want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93% victory.”

Trump claimed that American strikes had devastated Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure so extensively that rebuilding would take approximately 25 years.

The president also predicted that the fighting would conclude shortly, arguing that the campaign had already substantially reduced the threat posed by the Islamic Republic.

He said American military operations had prevented Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons and would ultimately leave the world safer.

Trump acknowledged the American casualties suffered during the campaign, telling the audience that 18 US service members had died.

The president contrasted the Iran campaign with previous American military engagements in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing that those conflicts had consumed years and cost thousands of American lives without delivering comparable strategic benefits.

He also praised the administration’s military operation in Venezuela, describing it as an overwhelming demonstration of American military superiority that had produced substantial economic benefits through access to the country’s oil resources.

The Veterans Day ceremony began with Trump participating in a wreath-laying observance at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior officials attended the commemoration.

Trump paid tribute to several veterans, including 103-year-old World War II veteran Jack Myers, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and later participated in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.

The president also highlighted his administration’s efforts to improve veterans’ medical care, reduce disability claims backlogs and combat homelessness among former service members.

During the address, Trump renewed his commitment to constructing a 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, which he said would honor America’s military veterans.

The proposed monument has encountered legal opposition from preservationists, veterans and members of the Kennedy family, who argue that the structure would harm the cemetery’s historic surroundings.

A federal judge has temporarily halted construction while legal challenges proceed.

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