Washington DC – Just days after the US administration urged Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure, President Donald Trump has told US media that the ongoing US-Israeli military strikes against Iran will end “soon”, citing the near-total destruction of Iranian targets.
In a brief phone interview with news site Axios on Wednesday, Trump said the war, launched on 28 February with joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials, has already exceeded expectations.
“The war is going great. We are way ahead of the timetable. We have done more damage than we thought possible, even in the original six-week period,” Trump told Axios.
He added, “Little this and that... Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
Trump noted that the Iranians “were after the rest of the Middle East. They are paying for 47 years of death and destruction they caused. This is payback. They will not get off that easy.”
On 28 February – the very day strikes started – Trump explicitly floated “off ramps”, saying, “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians, ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programmes].’”
He added at the time: “In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack.”
Nothing left?
Trump had already told reporters on Tuesday that the war would be over “very soon”.
On Monday, Trump told CBS News that the US war with Iran could almost be over.
"I think the war is very complete, pretty much," the president said, speaking from his Doral, Florida, golf club. "[Iran has] no navy, no communications, they've got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones."
"If you look, they have nothing left. There's nothing left in a military sense," Trump said.
At a press conference later in the day, Trump said the war against Iran will end “very soon,” and also said that oil prices will drop.
“We’re achieving major strides towards completing our military objective,” Trump noted.
“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” the US president said.
“Doomsday option”
The latest comments come as the Trump administration asked Israel not to strike Iranian oil facilities and to notify Washington in advance of any such moves – the first time Washington has reined in its ally since the joint operation began ten days ago.
Media reports suggest that the request was driven by concerns that hitting energy infrastructure would risk major Iranian retaliation against Gulf oil facilities.
Trump himself has described strikes on Iranian oil as a “doomsday option” to be used only if Iran first attacks Gulf energy supplies.
Despite Trump’s claims of near-total success, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday the war would continue “without any time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and decisively win the campaign.”
No internal US directive has yet been issued to stop operations, even as Trump publicly signals the mission is largely complete.
Meanwhile, Iran says only Tehran must decide when the war ends.
Iranian officials have maintained that fighting will continue “as long as needed” for national security.
Major General Ali Abdollahi, Commander, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Tuesday, “America and Israel cannot end the war whenever they want….We will continue the war until the enemy regrets and is defeated.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Tuesday, “Unless we get to that (a permanent end to the war), I think we need to continue fighting for the sake of our people and our security.”
He has also suggested that even if the US ceased its attacks, Tehran may continue the war.
Iran has repeatedly ruled out negotiations with the US, with officials citing “a very bitter experience” from previous talks.
