The United States is on course to control Iranian airspace and expects to complete its objectives in the country within four to six weeks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday.
However, Politico has reported that the Pentagon is preparing for a conflict with Iran that could last well beyond President Donald Trump’s initial four-week timeline. The US Central Command is reportedly asking for additional military intelligence officers to support operations for at least 100 days — and potentially through September.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Leavitt also said Washington was examining potential candidates to lead Iran — a day after President Donald Trump told Reuters the US must be involved in choosing the country’s next leader. “I know there’s a number of people that our intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at, but I won’t get any further on that,” she said.
Trump said on Thursday that the next Iranian leader is unlikely to be the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, who has emerged as a frontrunner to succeed his father, killed in a military strike at the start of the war.
Earlier on Friday, Trump said the US would accept nothing from Iran short of “unconditional surrender.” Leavitt elaborated: “What the President means is that when he, as Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America, and the goals of Operation Epic Fury has been fully realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender, whether they say it themselves or not.”
(Reuters)
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