"Militarily, we've wiped them out," Trump said.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan earlier this month failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of the blockade until Iran's proposal is submitted and discussions are concluded "one way or the other."
The Pentagon's comptroller, Jay Hurst, told members of Congress that the cost of the Iran operation so far has been $25 billion.
It's the first public accounting disclosed by the Pentagon.
"At this day, we're spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury. Most of that is in munitions," Hurst said during a House hearing on the Pentagon's budget request on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump told Axios in a phone interview on Wednesday that he rejected an Iranian peace offer that would lift the naval blockade and open the Strait of Hormuz but delay nuclear talks.
The president told Axios he was going to keep Iran under the blockade until the regime agrees to a proposal that addresses nuclear capabilities.
"They want to settle. They don't want me to keep the blockade. I don't want to [lift the blockade], because I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon," Trump told Axios.
Trump told Axios he saw the blockade as "somewhat more effective than the bombing" and his primary source of leverage.
"The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing. They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can't have a nuclear weapon," Trump told Axios.
The president added that Iran's oil storage and pipelines "are getting close to exploding" because Iran can't export oil due to the blockade.
President Donald Trump posted to social media early on Wednesday morning warning of fresh consequences if Tehran does not agree to a new nuclear deal.
"Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!" Trump wrote, adding, "No more Mr. Nice Guy!"
President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued an apparent rebuke of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's criticism of American strategy in Iran, saying that the German leader doesn't "know what he's talking about."
Merz, Trump claimed, "thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon" -- something Merz did not say in his Monday criticism of the U.S.-Israel campaign.
"If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago," Trump said.
"No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise," Trump added in the post.
Merz said at an event on Monday that the U.S. had "no strategy" in Iran and was "being humiliated by the Iranian state leadership."
