Trump Promises War Against Iran Is ‘Nearing Its Conclusion’

(SeaPRwire) –   Donald Trump stated that the war is “nearing completion” in a speech delivered just over a month after the U.S. and Israel initiated attacks on Iran.

The President’s 19-minute address from the White House on Wednesday offered no new information and largely reiterated his administration’s established positions on the conflict. This comes at a time when a majority of Americans disapprove of the war, and gas prices have risen significantly due to disruptions in the Middle East.

While Trump did not provide a specific timeline for concluding the conflict, he had previously indicated it might extend for another two to three weeks. “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast,” he stated Wednesday evening. “We’re getting very close.”

He asserted that the U.S. had achieved “decisive, overwhelming victories” in the war, including the destruction of Iran’s Navy and Air Force, a reduction in Tehran’s missile capabilities, and the elimination of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other prominent Islamic Republic officials. “I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” he remarked. “We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated, both militarily and economically and in every other way.”

Concurrently, Trump seemed to imply the war is far from over. “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” he said. “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.” He added that if no agreement is reached, referencing ongoing negotiations to end the conflict, “we are going to hit each and every one of their electric-generating plants, very hard and probably simultaneously.” Human rights organizations have condemned threats and attacks on Iran’s power infrastructure, citing the potential harm to civilians.

Trump also reiterated his assertion that the U.S. did not aim for regime change in Iran but achieved it nonetheless, despite observations that the Iranian regime, with a changing leadership, remains in power. “Regime change was not our goal,” Trump stated. “But regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ death.”

In response to growing American concerns about rising gas prices, Trump characterized the financial impact as “short-term” and attributed the increase to Iranian attacks on “commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.” He simultaneously maintained that the U.S. “has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat.” However, the speech did not reassure markets; global oil benchmark Brent crude increased to $105 a barrel, and stock futures declined shortly thereafter.

The U.S. President noted that the U.S. “imports almost no oil” from the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which approximately one-fifth of global oil supply passes and which is currently obstructed by Iran. He suggested that other nations, reluctant to join the conflict but experiencing the effects of energy market shocks, should either purchase oil from the U.S. or “build up some delayed courage” and “go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.”

“We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” he stated. “And in any event, when this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. It will just open up naturally.”

Trump also honored the 13 U.S. servicemembers who have lost their lives in the war. Near the conclusion of his speech, he urged Americans to “keep this conflict in perspective,” citing examples of long-standing U.S. involvement in other past conflicts. Trump had campaigned on a platform of ending the U.S. pattern of engaging in “forever wars” and pledged not to initiate new ones. However, as he argued Wednesday night that Iran was “the bully of the Middle East,” he also appeared to justify the conflict as being in the best interests of Americans, claiming: “This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future.”