President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested the U.S. is envisaging a four-week military operation against Iran, where American and Israeli strikes have killed the country’s supreme leader and crippled its defense capabilities.
"It's always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so," he told British newspaper the Daily Mail, the latest of several interviews with media outlets Sunday.
"As strong as it is, it's a big country, it'll take four weeks, or less," Trump said.
Trump told the newspaper he remained open to more talks with the Iranians, but did not say if that would happen "soon."
"I don't know," Trump said, according to the report. "They want to talk, but I said you should have talked last week, not this week," he added.
He also said that American soldiers dying during strikes on Iran was to be expected in a war that was nevertheless a "great deal."
"We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end it's going to be a great deal for the world," Trump told NBC after the Pentagon announced three US service members had been killed during military strikes on Iran.