Washington: President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran’s navy was now “at the bottom of the sea” as he opened a White House event honouring the Navy Midshipmen with an extended defence of US military action against Tehran.
Speaking at the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy presentation in the East Room, Trump began his remarks with a sweeping claim about the ongoing conflict.
“We’re doing extremely well in Iran,” he said, adding that “they had a Navy two weeks ago, they have no Navy anymore, it’s all at the bottom of the sea, 58 ships knocked down in two days.”
He asserted that US forces faced little resistance. “It’s not even a contest,” Trump said, adding, “We have the greatest navy anywhere in the world. It’s not even close.”
Trump again stressed that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons remained central to US policy. “We’re not going to let them have nuclear weapons because if they had them, they’d use them, and we’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “It should have been done a long time ago by other Presidents.”
The president described the scale of military operations as unprecedented, saying Iranian capabilities had been dismantled across domains. “Their Navy’s gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is all gone, it’s all gone, their radar is all gone,” he said, adding that “their leaders are all gone.”
He suggested that the situation had left Iran without a functioning leadership structure. “We want to talk to them, and there’s nobody to talk to,” Trump said. “We have nobody to talk to, and you know what? We like it that way.”
Trump praised senior defence officials involved in the operations. He said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “is doing a fantastic job” and described Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine as “doing a great job as good as anybody’s ever seen.”
He also referred to past military decisions to underline his leadership approach, recalling a campaign against ISIS. “He did it in less than four weeks; he defeated ISIS,” Trump said.
The remarks came during a ceremony to honour the Navy Midshipmen football team, which Trump described as having achieved “one of the most impressive seasons in Navy football history.”
He congratulated the team for its 11-2 record and victory over Army, calling the season “truly a season for the ages.” Trump also said he would host the players at the Oval Office and present them with medals.
During the event, Trump signed an executive order to reserve the second Saturday in December exclusively for the Army-Navy football game. “Nobody’s playing football… the only game that’s going to be played,” he said, adding, “we’ll probably get sued at some point… but we win those suits.”
The president also touched briefly on domestic issues, including media criticism and his support for banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
The ceremony was attended by military officials, lawmakers, former administration officials, players, coaches, and academy leadership.
In closing, Trump linked the team’s success to military service, noting that graduating players would soon become officers. “We have the greatest military in the world,” he said, adding, “We’re proving that.”
