Trump says US will do 'whatever it takes' in Iran campaign

Jeff Mason and Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News on Mar 2, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the United States would keep up its military offensive against Iran for as long as it takes, outlining for the first time a set of four objectives he hopes to accomplish toward reducing the threat he said is posed by Tehran.

“We projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.,” Trump said at a White House event Monday about the timeline he foresaw for the campaign. “Whatever the time is, it’s OK. Whatever it takes.”

The president has faced mounting pressure to better define the goals of his extraordinary military intervention on Iran, after days of sending mixed signals about what he wanted to achieve.

Trump said that the effort, which launched on Saturday, aims to eliminate Iran’s missile capabilities, destroy the country’s navy, cut off its path to a nuclear weapon and ensure that the government “cannot continue to arm fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

Notably, the president did not mention regime change as one of the campaign’s goals.

Trump’s comments come as the clash entered its third day Monday, with the fallout from the conflict rippling across the region. The president had previously expressed conflicting timelines — stretching from days to weeks — for how long the conflict would last and contradictory paths for how it could play out, sparking questions about the administration’s endgame and worries of an escalating war.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier Monday had pushed back on a four-to-five week schedule, saying he would “never hang a time frame from our perspective,” even as he sought to deny that the conflict with Iran would turn into the sort of endless war that Trump repeatedly has sworn to avoid.

Trump on Monday insisted that he was willing to see the operation through to its conclusion.

“I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this,” he said.

The U.S., Israel, and Iran have all threatened escalation. Trump told CNN that a “big wave” was yet to come and told the New York Post he was not ruling out sending ground troops into Iran. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,” he told the Post. He suggested, however, that he thought that would not be necessary.

Four U.S. service members have been killed in the military operation so far. Trump has said more casualties are likely but has sought to rally support for the mission by arguing it will ensure U.S. security well into the future.

“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,” Trump said. “In their memory, we continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat this terrorist regime poses to the American people.”

The president spoke at a White House ceremony to award the Medal of Honor to three veterans who served in prior wars, where he also offered an update on the construction of a new White House ballroom.

Trump has called on Iran’s generals to either hand power over to their people or embrace a model similar to Venezuela, where remnants of the regime of Nicolas Maduro have complied with U.S. demands after Washington ousted him from power. He’s also implored the Iranian people to overthrow the regime once the military operation ended.

Iran, in response, has continued with retaliatory strikes, launching waves of missiles at targets in multiple countries that host U.S. military facilities. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed over the weekend and the country’s officials have vowed to intensify their retaliation. Blasts were heard Monday across Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

A prolonged conflict risks drawing in more countries and further rattling financial markets. Fuel prices have risen across global markets. As tanker traffic all but halted through the Strait of Hormuz — which carries about 20% of the world’s oil and gas — and a big refinery in Saudi Arabia stopped, West Texas Intermediate crude soared 6.5%. In Europe, liquefied natural gas surged after Qatar halted output.

OPEC+ agreed at a pre-arranged weekend meeting to raise quotas next month by 206,000 barrels a day. The group — which includes Iran, as well as Saudi Arabia and Russia — was expected to resume modest hikes before the outbreak of hostilities on Saturday.

Commercial air traffic also remains risky given the barrage of missiles and drones from Iran and with travelers dealing with the thousands of flights canceled over the weekend. Emirates and Etihad Airways said they would resume limited operations. Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, halted regular operations to and from Dubai until 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday and warned of disruptions through Thursday.

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(With assistance from Golnar Motevalli and Courtney Subramanian.)