In a phone interview with CBS News late Saturday evening, President Trump dismissed threats from Iran’s top national-security official, Ali Larijani, who posted on social media earlier Saturday that Mr. Trump must “pay the price” for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a longtime confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has emerged as one of Iran’s most high-profile leaders in the wake of Khamenei’s Feb. 28 killing on the first day of the war.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about, who he is. I couldn’t care less,” Mr. Trump told CBS News, adding that Larijani has “already been defeated.”
Mr. Trump also pushed back against the latest wave of critical statements from Larijani and other Iranian leaders, calling them weak and increasingly diminished in the region. He reiterated that the U.S. strikes will continue as he demands an “unconditional surrender” from Iran.
Earlier Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a video apology to Iran’s neighbors for its retaliatory strikes against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East, saying they will stop striking other Persian Gulf states unless attacked first. Pezeshkian later backtracked his remarks.
“We have not attacked our friendly and neighboring countries. Rather, we have targeted U.S. military bases, facilities, and installations in the region,” Pezeshkian said in a follow-up social media post that included no apology.
“He intended to take over the Middle East and he’s conceded and surrendered to all of those countries because of me,” Mr. Trump told CBS News on Saturday night, when asked about Larijani. “He’s already surrendered to all of the Middle Eastern countries because he was trying to take over the entire Middle East. That’s why all of those rockets were long ago aimed at those countries. He had that planned, long before this started.”
The sustained and pointed back and forth between the president and Iranian leaders underscores the uncertainty about who the U.S. might seek to engage diplomatically in the coming weeks as Iran’s leadership contends with both Mr. Trump’s confidence in the military campaign and with internal tensions inside Iran.
While Larijani is one key voice, an interim three-person council that includes Pezeshkian is now a central force in the country’s governance.
More broadly, Mr. Trump expressed confidence on Saturday evening about his strategy and policy in the Middle East, telling CBS News that the U.S. has been successful in diminishing the Iranian military and regime, and will continue to expand its targets inside Iran.
“It’s been incredible, the job we’ve done. The missiles are blow to smithereens,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re down to very few. The drones are blown. The factories are being blown up as we speak. The navy is gone, it’s at the bottom of the sea. Forty-two ships, 42, in six days, 42 ships. The navy is gone. The air force is gone. Every single element of their military is gone. Their leadership is gone. There’s not a thing that’s not gone.”
U.S. Central Command, which manages U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said Friday that at least 43 Iranian ships had been damaged or destroyed in U.S. strikes and more than 3,000 targets struck since the start of the war.
“We’re winning at levels never seen before and quickly,” Mr. Trump added.
As for U.S. allies, Trump said he is focused on the U.S. miliary efforts and on nations that were early supporters of his approach and of the strikes.
When asked if he would like to see U.S. allies do more at this juncture, Mr. Trump said, “I couldn’t care less. They can do whatever they want. The loyal ones are already in.”
His comments came hours after the president noted on Truth Social that the U.K. had readied two aircraft carriers for possible deployment to the Middle East. Mr. Trump wrote in his post that those carriers would not be needed, rebuking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been characterized by Mr. Trump as acting too slowly to give permission to the U.S. to use British bases in the Middle East as it launched its strikes.
Mr. Trump told CBS News that the possibility of the British sending aircraft carriers was a late and unnecessary gesture.
“It’s a little bit late to be sending ships, right? A little bit late,” Mr. Trump said.
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