Hours after the U.S. military announced that three U.S. service members were killed during military strikes against Iran, President Donald Trump told NBC News, “We expect casualties with something like this.”
Trump added in a phone interview, “We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end it’s going to be a great deal for the world.”
U.S. Central Command on Sunday also said that five U.S. service members had been wounded in military operations against Iran, which began as a joint U.S.-Israeli operation early Saturday.
The strikes against Iran killed the country’s supreme leader, Trump announced Saturday. He told NBC News earlier in the day that a “large amount” of Iran’s other senior leaders were also killed in the military operation.
In Sunday’s phone call, the president said that the U.S. military operation was “ahead of schedule” and that “when we get 48 leaders, that’s a big event.”
Since Saturday’s initial military action, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East.
Asked Sunday what he hoped the outcome of the American military operation in Iran would be, Trump said, “There are many outcomes that are good. Number one is decapitating them, getting rid of their whole group of killers and thugs. And there are many, many outcomes. We could do the short version or the longer version.”
Trump added that Iranian officials do want to talk with the U.S. and “are talking,” though he didn’t provide the names of Iranian leaders in touch with the U.S. or explain what topics the talks are centering on.
The president said “I don’t know” when asked if he would stop striking Iran amid ongoing negotiations, adding that he would consider it “if they can satisfy us” but that “they haven’t been able to.”
He said the reason he launched the strikes was “very simple.”
“They weren’t willing to stop their nuclear research,” he said, referring to earlier negotiations with U.S. officials. “They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Later Sunday afternoon, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that “we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important,” adding that the rest of the Iranian naval fleet is also being targeted and “will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea.”
He added that in a separate U.S.-led attack, “we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters.”
In a video Trump posted on Truth Social early Saturday morning, shortly after the strikes against Iran began, he urged Iranian citizens to use the moment to take over their government.
“It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations,” he said.
He has not publicly briefed the American people about the ongoing military operation against Iran since posting that video.
The strikes yielded mixed reactions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with most Republicans commending the president’s decision to strike Iran and most Democrats criticizing Trump’s decision to strike without authorization from Congress.
“It’s in America’s interest to make sure that Iran can no longer be the largest state sponsor of terrorism,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who appeared separately later on the program, rebutted Graham’s statement.
“Let me say this: Khamenei was a brutal dictator, but Americans are not safer today,” Khanna told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker.
Kelly questioned the Trump administration’s goals in the military operation, saying, “Hope is not a strategy. We got to have a plan here. I mean, what is the strategic goal, and how do we achieve it?”
When Congress returns to Washington this week, lawmakers are expected to vote on a war powers resolution that would compel the president to seek approval from Congress to conduct more military operations in Iran.
