Trump estimates war with Iran should take four weeks

Despite the ongoing military action, Trump said diplomatic engagement remained possible.

By World Israel News

The American military campaign against Iran is expected to last about four weeks, President Donald Trump said Sunday as Washington acknowledged Iranian outreach for talks while continuing joint operations with Israel following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

Trump told Britain’s Daily Mail that the duration of the campaign had been anticipated from the outset.

“It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so,” he said, adding that Iran’s size factored into the planning. “As strong as it is, it’s a big country; it’ll take four weeks, or less.”

Despite the ongoing military action, Trump said diplomatic engagement remained possible.

Asked whether talks with Iran could happen soon, he declined to commit to a timetable. “I don’t know,” Trump said, according to the report. “They want to talk, but I said you should have talked last week, not this week.”

The White House confirmed Sunday that Iran’s leadership had contacted Washington seeking talks after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on Saturday. US officials said the outreach would not alter the course of the military campaign.

In a separate interview with The Atlantic conducted from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said he was prepared to engage with the Iranians.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he said. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”

Trump did not say who would represent Iran in any discussions or specify the format of potential talks.

The president also addressed US casualties sustained during the operation. Speaking to NBC after the Pentagon announced that three US service members had been killed during strikes on Iran, Trump said losses were an expected part of war.

“We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world,” he said.

US officials have said that the strikes have severely damaged Iran’s defense capabilities and eliminated the country’s supreme leader. The administration has emphasized that military operations will continue as planned even as diplomatic contacts are explored and has not indicated whether negotiations could affect the projected timeline of the campaign.