President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in separate interviews over the weekend, made it clear that the war in Iran is not over.
The Trump administration formally declared Operation Epic Fury “terminated” and submitted official notification of its end to Congress on May 1. But the president cautioned that this procedural conclusion didn’t mean a definitive cessation to all military actions.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Trump insisted during an interview with “Full Measure” when asked if combat operations are over. He emphasized that while Iran had been “defeated,” this did not mean that U.S. operations “are done.”
Trump estimated that roughly 70% of America’s targets inside the Islamic Republic had been hit.
“We could go in for two more weeks and do every single target,” he mused. “We have other targets that we could conceivably hit. But even if we didn’t do that, that would just be final touches. Even if we didn’t do that, it would take them many years to rebuild.”
Speaking with reporters at the White House on Monday morning, Trump lambasted the latest Iranian proposal to end the 10-week conflict, calling it a “piece of garbage.” The president added that the month-long ceasefire was “on life support.”
Ahead of the campaign, the Trump administration articulated four principal objectives on Iran: eviscerate its Navy, degrade its ballistic missile capabilities, stop its support for regional proxy groups and get its leadership to forswear nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu, in an interview with “60 Minutes,” conceded — at least implicitly — that those ambitions have not been fully achieved.
“I think it’s accomplished a great deal, but it’s not over,” he said. “There’s still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.”
Netanyahu later quipped that the only way to remove Iran’s highly enriched uranium is ”you go in, and you take it out.” He further stated that Trump assured him he “wants to go in there,” though the prime minister declined to specify whether Israeli or U.S. special forces would be involved, or if it would be a coordinated effort under international supervision.
Trump, during his Sunday interview, said that Iran’s nuclear enrichment site was under close surveillance by the Space Force — and that “we’ll get at that at some point, whenever we want.” He warned, meanwhile, that “if anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we’ll blow them up.”
Munitions are low, senator warns
The news comes as retired Navy captain and former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., raised concerns about dwindling U.S. munitions amid the war.
Kelly, citing multiple classified Pentagon briefings, asserted that American inventories of Tomahawks, Army Tactical Missile Systems, SM-3 interceptors, Terminal High Altitude Area Defenses (THAADs) and Patriots had been significantly drawn down over the course of the conflict.
“I think it’s fair to say it’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines,” he told “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “We’ve expended a lot of munitions. And that means the American people are less safe. Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific, with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in response to a post on X about Kelly’s remarks, rebuked the senator for allegedly “blabbing on TV” about a closed-door briefing. “Did he violate his oath…again?” @DeptofWar legal counsel will review,” Hegseth wrote.
Kelly then jabbed back at the defense secretary by posting a video of their exchange during an April 30 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which Hegseth publicly acknowledged that it would take the Pentagon “months and years” to rebuild the supplies of advanced weaponry depleted in Operation Epic Fury.
In the first 39 days of the air and missile campaign against Iran, the U.S. military burned through nearly half of its stockpiles of several key munitions, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The systems affected included Patriot and THAAD interceptors, as well as Precision Strike Missiles. Replenishing those inventories to prewar levels is projected to take up to four years.
Tanya Noury is a reporter for Military Times and Defense News, with coverage focusing on the White House and Pentagon.
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