US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ongoing war with Iran will end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target.” “Little this and that... Any time I want it to end, it will end,” Trump told US publication Axios in an interview.
“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 said Iran’s hostility extended beyond Israel and the US to Gulf states across the region. “They 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,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments on the war assume significance as they signal that his operation has largely accomplished its objectives, but US and Israeli officials say there has been no internal directive on when the fighting might stop.
Speaking a different tune, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the war will continue “without any time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and decisively win the campaign.”
Meanwhile, Israeli and US officials said that they are preparing for at least two more weeks of strikes in Iran. Trump himself declined to specify a timeline for when the war will end.
On Tuesday, the US received intelligence that suggested Iran has started laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for oil supply.
Officials say it’s unclear how many mines Iran has deployed, but the assessment is that the number is very small.
Trump confirmed to Axios that US strikes on Tuesday destroyed 16 mine-laying boats and disrupted Iranian plans.
CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a video message that the US military’s mission is to eliminate Iran’s ability to project power and harass shipping in the strait.
“US forces continue delivering devastating combat power against the Iranian regime. US combat power is building, Iran’s combat power is declining,” Cooper said on Wednesday, adding that Iranian missile and drone attacks have declined drastically.
In his February 28 speech announcing the first strikes on Iran, Trump had mentioned the objectives as destroying Iranian missiles and razing its missile industry to the ground, annihilating the Iranian navy, ensuring that Iran’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world, and ensuring that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”