US President Donald Trump offered a vehement defence of the Iran war on Wednesday night — vowing to “finish the job” soon during his first national address since the conflict began. The long-awaited presser offered no updates about truce negotiations or plans to alleviate soaring gas and oil prices, and appeared unlikely to move the needle of public sentiment. Iran also delivered a scornful response to claims that its missile capabilities had been decimated over the past month.
“Trump: ‘I have completely destroyed Iran’s missile capabilities‘. Air raid sirens currently blaring across Israel: Must be a meteor shower from Mars!” the Iranian Consulate in Mumbai jibed.
The X handle also posted a video clip of a missile launching into the clouds without divulging additional details. The post came soon after Trump insisted that Tehran had lost most of its ability to launch missiles and drones and suffered “clear and devastating large-scale losses”.
“Iran’s navy is GONE. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them — the terrorist regime they led — are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak. Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and their weapons, factories, and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces — very few of them left,” Trump told the country.
‘Back to the Stone Age’
Trump insisted on Wednesday night that the US was on track to complete all its military objectives “very shortly”. He repeated many of the warnings issued over the past month and provided scant new details — vowing that that Iran would be hit so hard it would go “back to the Stone Age”.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing… We have all the cards; they have none,” Trump said.
“Back to the Stone Age,” agreed Pete Hegseth.
The short X post from the Secretary of War sparked a quick rebuttal from the Iranian Consulate General in Mumbai. Tehran has repeatedly rejected aggressive rhetoric from Washington while highlighting its own historical and cultural heritage spanning back to one of the world’s earliest empires.
“They said Iran needed to be ‘Great Again’. Now suddenly the goalpost is…the Stone Age? Funny thing… civilisations that go back to empires like the Achaemenids don’t really do ‘again’. They just are,” the Iranian Consulate retorted while sharing a screengrab of Hegseth’s post.