President Donald Trump provided a detailed update on Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led military campaign against Iran, during a roundtable with the Memphis Safe Task Force on March 23, 2026. The operation commenced on February 28 at the direction of the president and has involved more than 7,800 targets struck through extensive air, sea, and land assets, resulting in the destruction of over 120 Iranian vessels along with ballistic missile and drone programs reduced by more than 90 percent.
Trump emphasized the complete dismantling of Iran’s military infrastructure, including its navy, air defenses, and defense industrial base. “We eliminated everything there is to eliminate and we eliminated them,” he said, adding that the strikes annihilated launchers and capabilities that no one thought could be reached.
Trump: We eliminated their leaders. The first set of leaders. They are gone and it is sad. It is sad they could not have made a deal. We could have made a deal with them a long time ago. pic.twitter.com/9u16kH8Opl
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 23, 2026
He continued by focusing on the leadership losses: “We eliminated their leaders. We had the first set of leaders, they are gone. Then they met 88 people — and it’s sad. It’s sad they could not have made a deal. We could’ve made a deal long time ago. Then the second set of 88 people picked a new leader and they are now extinguished. Then, they are meeting again but no one was to be the leader. One of the few political jobs that no one wants in the world. It’s a very dangerous job. My job is dangerous too but their jobs worse. Systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America. They are not threatening us anymore as commander in chief is my sacred responsibility to protect our country from all threats, for decades, Iran refused every opportunity to renounce its nuclear ambitions and in recent months negotiators brag to our representatives about having enough material to make nuclear weapons and that was supposed to deter me, but it did not deter, it made me more anxious, and it was just. It made it much more important.”
The confirmed deaths include Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in an airstrike on his compound in Tehran on February 28, along with more than 40 other top officials. Among those eliminated in U.S.-Israeli strikes were Secretary of the Iranian Defence Council Ali Shamkhani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Mohammad Pakpour, Chief of the General Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, Minister of Defence Aziz Nasirzadeh, and multiple intelligence and Basij force leaders through mid-March.
Trump noted that the operation created conditions for negotiations, with Iran now seeking a settlement to avoid nuclear weapons development, a capability he said the prior Iran nuclear deal would have allowed. He described the ongoing talks as serious and expressed hope for an agreement that secures peace without further escalation, while underscoring that the regime’s threats to America and its allies have been neutralized.
The president added that the mission, carried out with partners including Israel, has made the world safer and positioned the United States to focus on domestic priorities once a deal is finalized.