Fox News anchor Bret Baier said that President Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran on Saturday were especially important because they happened after the sun was already up, making U.S. aircraft more visible to Iran.
Baier joined “America’s Newsroom” to discuss the latest on “Operation Epic Fury” as the U.S. and Israel continue to target Iran.
“I just got off the phone with the president. He is very pleased with you how things are going. Disheartened about the loss of life and there may be more. He said along the way. As far as the progress, he said they are ahead of where they thought they would be,” Baier began.
“I want to read some quotes that I asked him and how he answered. He said that as far as a plan, they do have a plan. Always had a plan. The intelligence, the level of intelligence that they have had up to this point is truly amazing. I asked what you are saying is you know there is somebody on the ground in Iran that is going to rise up. Quote, yeah, I feel there is. I feel that and some of them are no longer with us to be honest because it was 49 leaders that were taken out,” Baier added.
“That was going to take four weeks we thought to get rid of the Iranian leadership and it is always, you know, if they hide it is a lot longer than four weeks. They would have been hiding. We were shocked when we heard what was going on. We knew exactly what was happening and where. 49 leaders. You know, they are talking about using people now that nobody ever heard of even they don’t know,” he continued.
Baier added, “They are using people, studying people to be the leader that even they don’t know who they are. Can you believe that? I said this is — it’s a tough succession plan in Iran. He said 49 leaders is deep. It’s very deep. When they met, they met for breakfast. They assumed it was good for a lot of reasons. Number one they didn’t think we knew you. You never attack in the morning having to do with wind and sun and a lot of things. It was amazing that we knew everything we knew.”
“He said there is a plan. He points to Venezuela as a template, which means to me that going in they had some sense on the ground of what was coming next. As far as the military operation, he said there is no greater military than the U.S. He was praising general caine. Chairman of the joint chiefs and secretary of war Pete Hegseth for the news conference he just watched,” the Fox News host explained.
“Cut and dry as he said, central casting and they have a job to do and they are getting it done. So from the president of the United States, he is pleased, does believe that this is going faster than they thought. And he believes that four weeks is something that they had put as a calendar of what they were looking at as setting the table for the Iranians to do what they do,” Baier concluded.
WATCH:
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said early Monday that the U.S. military operation in Iran is “laser-focused.”
“Destroy Iranian missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure and they will never have nuclear weapons,” said Hesgeth, who was joined by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
Hegseth declined to give a timeframe for the operation, but he insisted it would not be “endless.”
“This is not Iraq,” Hegseth said. “This is not endless. I was there for both — our generation knows better, and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb and he’s right. This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission: Destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.”