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U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Monday that the decision to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran would be made "mutually" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while warning that newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei would "not last long" without American approval.
"I think it's mutual, a little bit. We've been talking. I'll make a decision at the right time, but everything's going to be taken into account," Trump told The Times of Israel in a phone interview when asked whether Netanyahu would have a say in ending the war.
Asked whether Israel could continue the war after the U.S. stops its strikes, Trump declined to entertain the possibility. "I don't think it's going to be necessary," he said.
Trump asserted that Iran would have destroyed Israel without the joint U.S.-Israeli action. "Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it. We've worked together. We've destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel," he said.
The White House said Friday it expected the war to last four to six weeks, though the timeline has shifted repeatedly. Trump has refused to commit to a specific end date.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Sunday that the war would remain an air campaign "for now," but that Trump had not removed ground troops from his options.
"It's not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table," she told Fox News.
Iran's Assembly of Experts announced Sunday that it had selected Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's new supreme leader, succeeding his father Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strike of the war on Feb. 28.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly backed the appointment.
Trump told ABC News, warning that the younger Khamenei would not survive without American consent.
"He's going to have to get approval from us," Trump said.
"If he doesn't get approval from us, he's not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don't have to go back every 10 years, when you don't have a president like me that's not going to do it," he noted.
Trump had previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as "a lightweight" and insisted the United States must be involved in choosing Iran's next leader.
Trump told Fox News that American forces had sunk all of Iran's naval vessels and destroyed most of its missile launch infrastructure.
"We have sunk all Iranian ships and destroyed most missile launch platforms, with only 20% remaining," Trump said.
The military campaign has focused on neutralizing Iran's missile infrastructure and naval assets. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) had previously reported the destruction of more than 30 Iranian ships and said the U.S. and Israel were approaching "complete control" of Iranian airspace.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran since Feb. 28, including Khamenei, more than 150 schoolgirls and senior military officials.
Iran has retaliated with sweeping missile and drone barrages targeting U.S. bases, diplomatic facilities and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities. Reports indicated Tehran had fired missiles laden with cluster munitions at Israel.
At least seven U.S. service members have been killed since the war began.
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