US President Donald Trump has said the United States has the capability to wipe out Iran’s electricity network within an hour if it decides to escalate the conflict, while also confirming that authorities are investigating reports of a possible Iranian drone threat off the California coast.
The remarks come amid rising tensions between the US and Iran following ongoing military operations and concerns about potential retaliation. Trump indicated that while Washington possesses overwhelming military capability, it would prefer not to carry out such a strike.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a political visit to Kentucky and Ohio, the US President addressed both the state of the war and security concerns at home.
Drone retaliation threat being investigated
Trump confirmed that law enforcement agencies were examining intelligence about a possible drone attack that could be launched from a boat near the California coast.
“That’s being investigated, but you have a lot of things happening, and all we can do is take them as they come,” he told reporters.
Officials are looking into the possibility that drones could be used as part of a retaliation plan linked to the ongoing conflict.
‘We could take apart their electric capacity’
Trump also said the US had the capability to severely damage Iran’s infrastructure if the conflict intensified.
“We could take apart their electric capacity within one hour. And it would take them 25 years to rebuild it,” he said, adding that the US hoped such action would not become necessary. “So ideally we’re not going to be doing that.”
The President described Iran’s military position as badly weakened following recent US operations.
“Iran is being absolutely decimated. That’s all I can say,” he said, adding that the campaign was being conducted “as well as anybody has ever seen.”
Trump claimed several countries had privately backed Washington’s actions.
“Other countries telling me too, big countries, powerful countries. They said they’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “And they also agree with what I’m doing.”
According to Trump, Iran’s military capabilities had been heavily damaged.
“They’ve got no navy. They’ve got no air force. They’ve got no anti-air traffic, anything. They have no systems of control. We’re just riding free range over that country,” he said.
He added that US forces had already destroyed much of Iran’s naval assets.
“We’ve knocked out all of their boats. They have some missiles, but not very many. I think we’re in very good shape,” Trump said.
Trump also said he had been briefed about the presence of possible Iranian sleeper cells in the United States and alleged that many may have entered during previous border policies.
“I have been, and a lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border,” he said. “But we know where most of them are. We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think.”
Despite asserting that Iran had been significantly weakened, Trump suggested it was still unclear when the conflict might end.
“Most people say it’s already been won. It’s just a question of when, when do we stop?” he said, adding that the US did not want Iran to “regrow”.
He also said the administration was preparing to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease pressure on energy markets.
“We’re going to be doing it very quickly,” Trump said.