President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US operation in Iran was 'ahead of schedule,' speaking by phone to CNN's Jake Tapper as fighting under the name Operation Epic Fury entered a new, uncertain phase. In the same conversation, Trump warned that a 'big wave' of strikes had not yet arrived and suggested the most dangerous part of the campaign was still to come.
Trump's remarks followed the opening US strikes, carried out in coordination with Israel roughly two days earlier, which The Hill reported killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior officials. Iran has since launched retaliatory strikes towards Israel and towards Gulf states that host US bases, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to The Hill.
