President Trump said Sunday he always expected there to be U.S. casualties given the scale of his operation against Iran’s leaders, shortly after the military confirmed the deaths of three service members.
Despite the costs, he said the military strikes against Tehran would be a net benefit.
“We have three, but we expect casualties, but in the end, it’s going to be a great deal for the world,” Mr. Trump told NBC News.
Mr. Trump commented on the casualties as part of a weekend series of media interviews and social media posts about the military campaign he ordered against Iran on Saturday in coordination with Israel.
Otherwise, Mr. Trump has kept a low public profile while speaking to foreign leaders and monitoring events from his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Democrats said Mr. Trump should have consulted Congress or made a public case for the military strikes.
The president said his reasoning for ordering the action was simple.
“[The Iranians] weren’t willing to stop their nuclear research,” he told NBC. “They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon.”
He said the U.S. might stop its bombardment if the Iranian side “can satisfy us,” but “they haven’t been able to.”
Mr. Trump said U.S. strikes sank nine Iranian ships and destroyed the country’s navy headquarters.
U.S. Central Command also said the military destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Mr. Trump said the U.S. military operation was “ahead of schedule” and “when we get 48 leaders, that’s a big event.”
Tehran retaliated Sunday after Saturday’s strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials.
The Islamic Republic struck Israel and other targets in the Middle East, killing the three American service members.
