S. forces continue operations against the country.
"It'll end, one way or the other, very soon," the president said. "Either through battle, or through they'll sign what we want to have signed, and Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon."
Military losses described
President Trump described the state of Iran's armed forces in detail, saying the country's military capabilities had been dismantled over the course of the campaign.
"Their Navy is gone now, their Iran, their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone, their radar is gone," he said. "Their leaders are wiped out, you know, we've now downed two levels of their leaders, they have a whole different group."
The president acknowledged the leadership losses have created uncertainty about whom the United States is negotiating with. "It's one of our problems, we don't really know who to deal with anymore, but that's okay," he said.
Warning on nuclear capability
President Trump framed the stakes of the conflict around preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, warning of the consequences if the regime were permitted to do so.
"And Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, if we allowed them to have a nuclear weapon, you would see a level of potential death, turmoil, destruction like you've never seen before," he said.
The president said his administration acted where previous presidents did not. "And I stopped it, and other presidents should have stopped it long before I came into office," he said. "They didn't want to get involved."
He also referenced the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran, describing it as a payoff. "Obama used the power of the penny, started paying them off, and they don't accept that, he was paying to get them to stop and to give them billions and billions of dollars," President Trump said. "You remember 1.7 billion in green cash to get them to stop, and all they did is use that money to develop a nuclear weapon."
Bombing campaign cited
President Trump pointed to the ongoing U.S. bombing campaign against Iran. "We bombed them with the B2 bombers a year ago, and we've been bombing them ever since, and they will never have a nuclear weapon," he said.
Earlier in the same remarks, the president noted new oil flows into global markets and highlighted U.S. control of strategic waterways. "Well today it was just announced that Russia is sending us literally millions of barrels of oil that were prices are coming down very rapidly of the oil," he said. "We've got the war on the Great Control, we control the straight, our Navy is unbelievable, our military is unbelievable."
President Trump closed by reiterating his confidence in the outcome. "We've done a great job," he said. "It'll end very soon, one way or the other."
