Trump claims military success against Iran
- US President Donald Trump claimed the United States had destroyed all 229 of Iran’s fighter jets during a rally in Kansas on Monday.
- Trump said Washington could end its military campaign immediately, asserting that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon.
- He also claimed Iranian authorities had killed at least 75,000 protesters over the past eight months, a figure that was not independently established in the available reporting.
US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that the United States had destroyed Iran’s entire fleet of fighter jets, declared that Washington could withdraw from the war immediately and accused Tehran of killing at least 75,000 protesters over the past eight months.
Speaking at a rally in Kansas on Oct. 19, Trump sought to portray the US military campaign against Iran as a decisive success, citing what he described as the destruction of the country’s air force, naval capabilities and air-defence systems.
“Iran had 229 beautiful fighter jets. We destroyed them all,” Trump told the crowd.
He also suggested that the United States had already achieved its principal objectives and could bring its involvement in the conflict to an end.
“Somebody said you could leave right now. It’s true. We could leave right now. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The president offered no detailed evidence during the rally to substantiate his claim that all 229 Iranian fighter jets had been destroyed. His assertions about Iran’s military capabilities could not be independently verified from the available reporting.
Trump nevertheless described the campaign in emphatic terms, saying: “We’re knocking the shit out of them … we could leave right now.”
His remarks presented a picture of a severely weakened Iranian military while leaving open questions about the conditions under which Washington might end its campaign and whether its stated objectives had been fully achieved.
Trump claims 75,000 protesters killed in Iran
Trump also turned to Iran’s domestic crackdown, alleging that Iranian authorities had killed at least 75,000 protesters over the preceding eight months.
“They did a lot of killing. And by the way, in the last eight months, they’ve killed 75,000 minimum protesters,” he said.
