US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States “now has full and complete control of the skies over Iran” following the wave of bombings launched on June 13 by the Israeli army.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the offensive, still ongoing, has already destroyed “a large number” of missile launchers and half of Tehran’s drones.
“We now have complete and total control over the skies over Iran. Iran had good airborne detectors and other defense equipment, and lots of them, but they don’t compare to what is made, designed and manufactured in the United States. Nobody does it better than the good old United States,” Trump wrote on his social media account, Truth Social.
His comments came minutes after US Vice President JD Vance confirmed that Trump may consider it necessary to adopt “further measures” to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Vance, who praised Trump's"restraint", speculated on future steps, stressing that"the final decision is up to the President." "I think he has earned our trust in him on this issue," the Republican government's number two noted, before adding that"whatever he does," Trump will keep the US military at the service of the interests of the United States.
He also said he was trying to clarify the “crazy stuff” he had read on the subject and agreed with Trump that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” the argument that Israel is also using to justify the wave of attacks it launched last Friday and which continues today, for the fifth consecutive day.
The US vice president warned Iran that it could give up uranium enrichment while maintaining its atomic industry for peaceful purposes, commenting that he had yet to see “a single good argument” that would justify violating “non-proliferation obligations”. “I have not seen a single good response to the conclusions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he said.
Israel on Friday launched a wave of strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and residential areas in the capital Tehran, with authorities in the Central Asian country putting the death toll at more than 224 and at least 1,800 injured.
On the Israeli side, the Iranian retaliation left at least 24 dead, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli offensive was launched days before a new round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran on Iran's nuclear program, which was scheduled for last Sunday in the Omani capital, Muscat. Due to the Israeli bombings, Iranian authorities have since announced the cancellation of this new round of negotiations.
