Trump shrugs at thought of US troops in Iran: 'Just a military operation to me'

President Donald Trump dodged a question on Tuesday about whether the United States would send military troops into Iran.

Trump was in the Oval Office with Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Micheál Martin on St. Patrick's Day when he shrugged off a question about whether sending soldiers into the country was fast becoming an inevitability.

" Iran is just a military operation to me. Iran is something that was essentially largely over in two or three days," Trump said.

"Because the navy was wiped out almost immediately, the air force came next, the anti-aircraft came next," Trump said. "We're flying over Iran, we could take out their electric capacity in one hour. There's nothing they can do right now because everything is knocked out they have no, again, no radar, no anti-aircraft, no nothing."

At least 13 American troops have died and an estimated 200 service members have been wounded since the Iran war started, according to The Hill.

Later in the press conference, Trump referred to the conflict as a war. He said that the U.S. was "not ready to leave yet" and that it would in the "near future." No clear date or deadline was set.