Trump says war in Iran could last 4 to 5 weeks, but US able to 'go far longer'

United States President Donald Trump shared that the U.S. campaign of military strikes on Iran was initially projected to last four to five weeks, but left the timeline open.

"We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections," he said on Mar. 2, "but whatever the time [needed] is, it’s okay, whatever it takes...Right from the beginning we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that."

He was speaking before a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, making his first public remarks since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Providing updates on the operation, Trump outlined the U.S.'s main objectives — to destroy Iran's missile capabilities and navy, and ensure that "the world's number one sponsor of terror" cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and support militant groups overseas.

A 'colossal threat' to the U.S.

Trump claimed that Iran's conventional ballistic missile programme was "growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas".

He then claimed that Iran "would soon have missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America", and that the U.S. was "very nearly under threat".

"This was our last best chance to strike — what we’re doing right now — and eliminate the intolerable threat posed by this sick and sinister regime," he added.

The existence of such a threat was countered by U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

"There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians," he said after exiting a classified briefing on the war. "There was a threat to Israel."

Ahead of schedule

Speaking on how long the war might last, Trump also highlighted that the operation so far had been faster than projected.

"We also projected four weeks to terminate the [Iranian] military leadership, and as you know that was done in about an hour, so we’re ahead of schedule there," he claimed.

He also addressed comments from an unnamed person in the media who allegedly suggested that Trump might get bored of continuing the operation and thus wanted to get it over with quickly.

"I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this," Trump said. "I never get bored. If I get bored I wouldn’t be standing here right now, I guarantee you that, to go through what I had to go through."

'Hardest hits' still to come

Later that same day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio alluded to an escalation of strikes.

He told reporters, "The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military. The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now."

He added that he did not know how long the whole operation will take, but the U.S. "will do this as long as it takes to achieve [their] objectives".

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Top images from The White House's Facebook and AFP