Donald Trump on Monday assured the American public that the US was equipped to fight a lengthy war with Iran if necessary, but boasted that Operation Epic Fury was already ahead of schedule.
The President also stressed he would not get ‘bored’ if the war dragged on longer than expected.
Trump was in the East Room for a Medal of Honor ceremony when he gave his first public comments on this weekend’s Iran strikes, which resulted in the deaths of four US troops.
‘Today, we grieve for the four heroic American service members who have been killed in action, and send our love and support to their families,’ the President said. ‘In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people.’
‘We have the strongest and most powerful, by far, military in the world, and we will easily prevail,’ Trump said.
On Sunday, Trump told the Daily Mail in an exclusive phone interview that the military campaign was expected to be a ‘four-week process,’ but has since then said it could be as long as five weeks.
Trump reiterated his anticipated schedule during his remarks in the East Room later that day, which Hegseth attended alongside Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bristled when asked about that timeline during a press conference on Monday morning.
President Donald Trump made his first public remarks Monday morning after launching Operation Epic Fury over the weekend attacking Iran
An Iranian man works amid the debris following the US and Israeli attacks on Tehran over the weekend
‘We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections,’ Trump said from the podium on Monday. ‘We have from, right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We’ll do it.’
The President then blasted an unnamed member of the media who he says claimed he would get bored if the Iran war took too long, recalling: ‘They said, ‘oh, well, the President wants to do it really quickly, after that he’ll get bored.”
‘I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this,’ he protested, then looked to Hegseth for agreement.
‘Somebody actually said from the media, ‘I think you’ll get bored after a week or two,’ the President continued. ‘No, we don’t get bored. I never get bored. If I got bored, I wouldn’t be standing here right now, I guarantee it. To go through what I had to go through.’
Back on message, Trump reiterated that the military operation to take out nuclear capabilities was ahead of schedule.
‘We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership and, as you know, that was done in about an hour,’ the President boasted. ‘So we’re ahead of schedule there, by a lot.’
Hegseth defended Trump’s timeline at a briefing earlier on Monday when a reporter pressed him on providing whether the four-week timeline was accurate.
‘President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take — four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back,’ Hegseth snapped at the NBC reporter.
‘We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we set out to achieve.’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended the Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House on Monday, March 2, 2026 after holding a press conference at the Pentagon earlier in the day on the weekend military strikes in Iran
Trump on Monday thanked troops currently fighting in Operation Epic Fury and called attention to active duty service members sitting in the room for the Medal of Honor ceremony.
‘We have a lot of great service members here with us, too, in this beautiful building,’ Trump said. ‘Isn’t it beautiful? We’re adding on to the building a little bit.’
He then spent several minutes talking about the White House ballroom.
A jack-hammering sound prevailed through a portion of Trump’s remarks, to which the President acknowledged as the ‘beautiful sound’ that ‘means money.’
Monday’s ceremony honored three veterans serving across three different wars.
Retired Sergeant Major Terry Richardson was presented the medal for actions in Vietnam War where he’s credited with saving the lives of 85 other service members.
Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2013 was awarded the medal posthumously. And Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds, who died in 1985, was recognized posthumously for leading captured resistance as a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II.
President Trump awards the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Terry Richardson during a ceremony for three recipients – the other two were awarded to family members posthumously
The medal ceremony took place just after Trump faced the first military operation casualties of his second term.
Three Army soldiers were killed in the strikes, it was revealed on Sunday. US Central Command said Monday morning that a fourth service member died following US-Israeli strikes in Iran.
‘They’re great people,’ the president told the Daily Mail in a call on Sunday when asked about the fallen troops.
The fallen have not yet been identified.
He admitted there’s likely to be more deaths in the conflict that he says could last up to four weeks. ‘You know, we expect that to happen, unfortunately. Could happen continuous – it could happen again.’
Trump also acknowledged that the three casualties were the first in his second term, noting: ‘We’ve done pretty well.’
The January military operation capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and the June bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities were carried out without a single American death.
‘But they’re great people, with outstanding records, outstanding,’ he said, telling the Daily Mail that he spoke with the families of the three fallen soldiers.
‘And I’ll be meeting with their families at the appropriate time,’ the president added.
He also floated the idea of ‘maybe’ traveling out to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the solemn dignified transfer of the troops’ remains
