March 8: It’s just the beginning. “What I want your viewers to understand is this is only just the beginning.” [Hegseth]
March 9: ‘Pretty much’ complete. “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” [Trump]
March 9: Both complete and just beginning. “Well, I think you could say both [very complete and just the beginning].” [Trump]
March 9: Not enough winning yet. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all.” [Trump]
March 9: Will go further. “We could call it a tremendous success right now — as we leave here, I could call it — or we could go further, and we’re going to go further.” [Trump]
March 11: U.S. already won. “You know, you never want to say too early you won. We won. The first hour, it was over.” [Trump]
March 11: U.S. needs to ‘finish the job.’ “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job.” [Trump]
March 13: Strikes ramping up. “Today will be yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran. The number of sorties and number of bomber pulses, the highest yet ramping up and only up.” [Hegseth]
