Trump on Iran: We won, but don’t want to leave early

By Bo Erickson

HEBRON, Kentucky, March 11 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that “we won” the Iran war but that the United States will stay in the fight to finish the job.

“You never like to say too early you won. We won,” Trump told a campaign-style rally in Hebron, Kentucky. “In the first hour it was over.”

He said the United States had knocked out 58 Iranian naval ships. 

Trump has seesawed on Iran, crediting the U.S. military for significantly degrading Iran’s military but resisting a speedy end to the conflict.

“We don’t want to leave early do we?” Trump said. “We got to finish the job.”

He said the United States has “virtually destroyed Iran.” He seemed to signal that the United States would continue the fight for now.

“We don’t want to go back every two years,” he said.

(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Steve Holland, editing by Michelle Nichols and Caitlin Webber)