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U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran intensified on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran "wants to make a deal badly," while operations in the Iranian capital continued and a dispute erupted with Britain over the use of a key military base.
Several areas of Tehran were struck on Monday as the U.S. Navy and Air Force pressed efforts to gain total air supremacy, according to The Telegraph.
After less than 48 hours of warfare, U.S. and Israeli forces had taken out much of Iran’s top leadership, destroyed dozens of missile launchers, sunk nine warships, and dismantled a key explosives factory, the newspaper reported.
Trump told The Telegraph that Iran's leadership was willing to enter ceasefire talks and said the campaign had been designed to last four weeks, or less if Tehran agreed to a nuclear deal.
"We always anticipated four weeks," Trump said.
"We also anticipated two to three weeks to take out some of the leadership, but we’ve taken out all of it in one day. So that was well ahead of schedule. We always viewed it as a four-week operation," he added.
"They want to make a deal badly. I said you should have made it a week ago," Trump stated.
Trump also stated he was "very disappointed" in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for initially blocking U.S. use of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands to conduct strikes on Iran.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump said the refusal to let U.S. forces use the base was unlike anything that had "happened between our countries before." Britain had denied permission to conduct strikes from bases including Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, citing international law.
Starmer relented Sunday night, saying the U.S. would be allowed access to Diego Garcia for "specific and limited defensive purposes."
Trump stated that Starmer "took far too long" to change his mind and suggested the delay stemmed from legal concerns.
"That’s probably never happened between our countries before," Trump said, adding that, "It sounds like he was worried about the legality."
The dispute led Trump to withdraw support for Starmer’s plan to transfer ownership of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and to lease the base back.
Trump called the deal "a very woke thing" and an act of "great stupidity" by the U.K., according to The Telegraph.
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