US President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with CNN that American forces are "hitting Iran hard," but the "main wave" of strikes is yet to come.

"We are punishing them to the fullest," Trump said. "I think everything is going very well. Very powerfully. We have the best armed forces in the world and we are using them."

In the interview, Trump discussed a wide range of issues, including the anticipated duration of the conflict, his surprise at the scale of Iran's retaliatory strikes, and a possible power succession plan in the country.

When asked how long the war might last, the president said: "I don't want this to go on too long. I always thought it would take four weeks. And we are a little ahead of schedule."

When asked whether the US is doing anything beyond military action to help the Iranian people retake control of their country, Trump said: "Yes. We really are doing that. But right now we want everyone to stay home. It's not safe outside." And, he said, it will get more dangerous. "We haven't even started hitting them seriously yet. The main wave hasn't happened. The big wave is coming soon."

According to the president, the "biggest surprise" was Iran's strikes on Arab countries in the region — Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE.

"We were surprised," Trump said. "We told them: 'We'll handle it,' and now they want to fight. And they are actively involved. It was thought they would be almost uninvolved, and now they are insisting on participating." Of the Arab leaders he said: "I know these people. They are tough and smart."

The Iranians, according to Trump, "were shooting at a hotel, shooting at a residential building. That angered them. They love us but were watching the situation. There was no reason to get involved."

Trump emphasized that Iran's nuclear threat had been a serious problem in the region for a long time. "You have to understand, they lived under this dark cloud for years. That's why there was never peace."

When asked who might lead Iran, Trump replied: "We don't know who's in charge right now. We don't know who they'll choose. Maybe they'll get lucky and someone who knows what they're doing will come along."

He said Iranian leadership had "lost a lot" from the initial strikes. "Forty-nine people," Trump said. "It was an amazing strike."

"They thought they were undetectable. They were detectable. We were amazed by that." Now, Trump said, it is unclear who is running the country. "They don't even know who's in charge right now. We eliminated 49 leaders."

The president noted that his team had tried to negotiate with the Iranians, but "we couldn't make a deal with these people." Every new proposal was met with refusal. The Iranians would not agree to stop uranium enrichment.

Trump characterized his actions as the "right path" to resolving the Iranian threat. "We don't need to worry about treaties." He pointed to Iran's long history of causing destruction in the region since the 1979 revolution. "Take the last 37 years, actually 47 years, almost 50 years, look at what happened, all those deaths. People in the military walking around without legs, without arms, with disfigured faces," he said.

He also noted that he had asked his team to compile a list of all attacks by Iranian or Iranian-backed forces against the US and its allies over the past 47 years. "If I told you about all of them, we'd still be talking."

The current military operation, Trump said, is part of a long-term campaign to eliminate the Iranian threat. "We eliminated Soleimani last time," referring to the US drone strike on January 3, 2020, that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. "He was an incredibly brutal general."

The Soleimani strike "was a big step," the president said. "If that hadn't happened, Israel might not exist today."

Then, Trump said, came Operation Midnight Hammer — very important — in June 2025 against Iranian nuclear facilities: "They were a month away from having nuclear weapons."

Critically assessing Obama's Iran nuclear deal, Trump stated: "That was a deal with Iran because it gave all the power to Iran. They would have had nuclear weapons three or four years ago. They would have used it against Israel. Maybe would have used it against us."

"That deal was so bad," Trump said, "that it led to the bomb." In the most recent negotiations, the Iranians "didn't want to give us what we were asking for. They should have done it."

"So everything is going well," Trump said, before ending the interview.