{"id":2603273,"date":"2026-05-15T15:52:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-insists-he-didnt-underestimate-irans-pain-tolerance\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T15:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:53:30","slug":"trump-insists-he-didnt-underestimate-irans-pain-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-insists-he-didnt-underestimate-irans-pain-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump insists he &#8216;didn&#8217;t underestimate&#8217; Iran&#8217;s &#8216;pain tolerance&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-insists-he-didnt-underestimate-irans-pain-tolerance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2603273&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he misjudged Iran\u2019s \u201cpain tolerance,\u201d told Fox News that the U.S. adn Israel struck Iranian targets \u201cunbelievably hard\u201d during Operation Epic Fury-leaving bridges and electricity and hitting Kharg Island other than certain oil valves. He argued the war has not dragged on long, comparing its timeline to other conflicts (Vietnam, Iraq, Korea, and others), and said the U.S.has been involved for only about two and a half months, noting that he has lost 13 soldiers across two wars.<\/p>\n<p>In the interview preview, Brett Baier pressed Trump on how long the war would last, and Trump didn\u2019t offer a clear endpoint beyond pointing to historical precedents. The piece also notes that despite thousands of Iranian troop deaths and major damage to military infrastructure, Iran\u2019s resilience-particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-and its continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have limited the rapid political payoff Trump wanted. Meanwhile, analysts cited in the article say the broader U.S. blockade is severely hurting Iran\u2019s economy, with Iran potentially unable to sustain the situation until around August; however, the article warns that U.S. public patience may not last much longer due to upcoming midterm elections, increasing pressure to end the conflict early.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4\">Donald Trump<\/a> insisted he didn\u2019t misunderstand <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"100\">Iran\u2019s<\/a> \u201cpain tolerance,\u201d boasting of the successes of Operation Epic Fury.<\/p>\n<p>In a preview of an interview set to air Friday evening, Fox News host Brett Baier pressed Trump on the Iran war, asking, \u201cWhy are we where we are?\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/4569763\/rubio-us-taiwan-trump-china-xi-visit\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Rubio says US\u2019s Taiwan policy \u2018unchanged\u2019 despite Xi\u2019s warning to Trump<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/4569231\/us-pledges-un-humanitarian-aid\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>US pledges additional $1.8 billion for UN humanitarian aid<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4568795\/trump-says-xi-promised-not-provide-military-equipment-to-iran\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump says Xi promised not to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-to-include-ukraine-aid-in-government-funding-bill-pelosi-says\/\" title=\"House To Include Ukraine Aid In Government Funding Bill, Pelosi Says\">provide military equipment<\/a> to Iran<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t underestimate anything,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe hit them unbelievably hard. Look, we left their bridges. We left their electricity capacity. We can knock that all out in two days. Two days. Everything. We left Kharg Island. \u2026 Hit it except for the valves where the oil comes out. Because when you hit that, that means you\u2019re going to lose a little oil.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The president added that ships were now turning to the United States for oil, \u201clike we\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baier followed up by saying the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/smithsonian-exhibit-reduces-american-womens-history-to-cheap-ideological-falsehoods\/\" title=\"Smithsonian Exhibit Reduces American Women\u2019s History To Cheap, Ideological Falsehoods\">public wanted<\/a> to know how much longer the war was going to last. The president turned to history to put the events in a wider context, suggesting that the war hadn\u2019t been going on long at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVietnam lasted 19 years,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIraq was like 10 years. Korea was seven years. Another one was 14 years. Another one was 12 years. Another one was nine years. We\u2019re in there for two and a half months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe lost tens of thousands of soldiers in Vietnam, we lost tens of thousands of soldiers in practically every war,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve lost \u2014 and I wish we\u2019d lost none because I know those parents, I spoke to them \u2014 lost 13 soldiers in two wars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560683\/estimated-iranian-economic-damage-war-cost\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4560683\">ESTIMATED IRANIAN ECONOMIC DAMAGE FROM WAR APPROACHES $150 BILLION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Operation Epic Fury saw the U.S. and Israel kill thousands of Iranian troops and decimate its military infrastructure at the cost of 13 killed, with nearly half of those from non-combat-related causes. Despite this, the resilience of the degraded Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and continued Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have deprived Trump of the quick political victory he was hoping for.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. blockade of Iran is <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560683\/estimated-iranian-economic-damage-war-cost\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4560683\">strangling the country\u2019s economy<\/a>, with analysts estimating Tehran can only hold out until around August before a complete collapse. However, public tolerance may not expand to 3-4 more months, especially with the midterm elections coming up, putting pressure on Trump to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >possibly prematurely end<\/a> the conflict without a full victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump says he didn\u2019t misread Iran\u2019s pain tolerance, touting Operation Epic Fury<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2603274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26135240712727.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3817,3823,32726,54316,3634],"class_list":["post-2603273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-diplomacy","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-nuclear-talks","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26135240712727.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603273"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603277,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603273\/revisions\/2603277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}