Trump says secret operations crippled Iran before nuclear negotiations

President Trump said U.S. forces destroyed approximately 200 Iranian fighter jets, sank 159 vessels and dismantled Iran’s senior military leadership.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The United States carried out a months-long covert military campaign that crippled key Iranian military capabilities before Tehran agreed to enter nuclear negotiations, President Donald Trump said Saturday as he disclosed new details about operations previously kept secret.

In comments reported by Fox News, President Trump said U.S. forces destroyed approximately 200 Iranian fighter jets, sank 159 vessels and dismantled Iran’s senior military leadership during a series of nighttime operations.

“We would go out at one in the morning, all the lights off, and approach their ships… We weren’t detected until about a week ago,” President Trump said.

He said U.S. forces first targeted Iran’s radar and air defense networks, leaving the country unable to monitor activity at sea.

President Trump described nights in which between 19 and 25 vessels were destroyed and said Iranian forces did not know where the attacks were coming from.

When asked whether the agreement reached with Iran amounted to an unconditional surrender, President Trump responded: “Well, it’s probably really unconditional surrender.”

He also asserted that Iran’s top leadership had been eliminated.

He said the country’s “first tier” command, including Ali Khamenei, was gone and that a replacement leadership group he characterized as “very nasty” had also been removed.

The president said the military campaign coincided with positive economic developments in the United States, including stock market gains and declining oil prices. He also repeated his pledge that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Elsewhere, tensions remained high in the region as Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters announced that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed to maritime traffic.

Iranian officials said the move was a response to what they described as failures by the United States to uphold its commitments and continuing ceasefire violations by Israel in southern Lebanon.

Iran characterized the closure as the “first step” in its response and warned that additional actions could follow.

The naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps separately cautioned vessels operating in the area that approaching the strait would place their security at risk.