US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US is closely watching the straits in the Middle East after asserting that American forces destroyed Iranian naval vessels during an ongoing military operation.
"Now we're going to look very strongly at the straits. The straits are in great shape. We've knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many," he told reporters.
Trump said he believes the US is in "very good shape" in its war with Iran.
"The main thing is we have to win this," he added.
Regional tensions have escalated since Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran that has killed more than 1,300 people, including former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"They are absolutely being destroyed. Iran is being absolutely decimated. That's all I can say," Trump said.
Iran is "pretty much at the end of the line,' the president said, but added that it does not mean "we're going to end it immediately, but they are."
Trump claimed that Iran has "no systems of control," saying "we're just riding free range over that country."
- US knows where most Iranian 'sleeper cells' are
On a possible revenge plot by Iran in the state of California, Trump said it has been investigated.
"You have a lot of things happening, and all we can do is take them as they come," he said.
Earlier, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state has elevated its security posture following a report that US authorities warned of a potential Iranian drone threat to the West Coast.
Asked if he was briefed on how many Iranian "sleeper cells" could be in the US, Trump said he was informed.
"We know where most are. We have our eyes on all of them, I think," he said, claiming that they came to the country during the term of former President Joe Biden.
Trump said the military operation in Iran has largely succeeded but stressed that the US must ensure that hostile forces cannot recover.
"I'm just watching some of the news. Most people say it's already been won. It's just a question of when. When do we stop? We don't want to let it regrow. And ideally, we'd like to see somebody in there that knows what they're doing. In other words, they could build a country.
"Now one other thing: we can hit sections of Tehran and other places that, if you do it, it'll be almost impossible for them to rebuild their country, and we don't want that. We could take apart their electric capacity within one hour, and it would take them 25 years to rebuild it, so ideally we're not going to be doing that," he added.
