Trump keeps telling America he’s winning in Iran. He’s less clear in explaining how the war ends
WASHINGTON (AP) — Face to face tense global markets And poll numbers are falling since launch a war against IranMinister Donald Trump gave up on calls “unconditional surrender” Appearing appropriate to an end situation in which Iran is trading hard-line ayatollah for another.
Changing comments from the Republican president and his top aides are adding to the instability of the 12-day conflict. Affecting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic shocks around the world. With neither side moving, the war is now on an unpredictable path; on a path where a credible endgame is still uncertain.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Tuesday that the “beginning, middle or end” of the war is up to Trump. During a speech to the House Republicans on Monday, Trump moved from calling the war a “short-term excursion” to saying “we haven’t won enough.”
The indecision has increased criticism from those who say Trump lacks a clear goal. “They didn’t have a plan,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told reporters. “There are no timelines. Therefore, there are no exit strategies.”
An ever-changing target line
Since ordering the Iran bombardment, Trump has continually changed the timeline and objectives for his war against Iran; it was a crossover stream of rhetoric that raised more questions than answers.
Over the past few days, Trump has called for the “unconditional surrender” of Iran’s leaders, while suggesting that he has already achieved his goal of decimating Iran’s military.
At the same time, Trump’s team tried to reassure anxious Americans that this would not be a long, protracted conflict; Despite this, the president insisted that he had not ruled out sending US troops to the region.
The U.S. military says it has effectively destroyed Iran’s navy and made major progress in neutralizing Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones at its regional neighbors. And yet Critical Strait of HormuzIran, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through on a typical day, remains effectively closed to trade, and Iranian leaders are unyielding.
The Revolutionary Guard has vowed not to allow “a single liter of oil” to pass through Iran’s vital waterway until the United States halts its bombing campaign. And Ali LarijaniIran’s top national security official offered a menacing message Tuesday after Trump threatened to attack Iran “TWENTY TIMES HARD” if Tehran stops the flow of oil through the strait.
Larijani wrote to X: “Iran, the victim nation, is not afraid of your empty threats. Even those who are bigger than you cannot eliminate Iran. Be careful, do not eliminate it yourself.”
Explaining the situation to Americans
Trump has struggled to explain to Americans why preemptive action against Iran is necessary and how it fits with his promise to keep America out of the “endless wars” of the past two decades, which he laments have cost too much money and too many American lives. 7 US soldiers have been killed so far Approximately 140 people were injured in retaliatory salvos from Iran throughout the region.
One of several reasons Trump has given to justify starting the war is The “feeling” that Iran is preparing to attack United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shifted that position slightly, telling reporters that the president “had a feeling” that was “based on reality.”
But Pentagon officials told congressional staffers in private briefings: The USA has no intelligence Stating that Iran plans to preemptively attack the United States
Latest poll shows Trump’s decision to attack Iran did not bring about the rally-around-the-flag effect that often accompanies the beginning of recent US wars.
Nearly half of voters in Quinnipiac and Fox News polls said U.S. military intervention in Iran has made the United States “less safe,” while only 3 in 10 in each poll said it had made the country safer. A CNN poll found that nearly half of US adults think military action would make Iran a “greater threat” to the US, but only 3 in 10 think it would reduce the danger.
In a CNN poll, nearly 6 in 10 US adults said they had “not a lot” or “not at all” confidence in Trump to make the right decisions about the US’s use of force in Iran.
European allies tread carefully after UK PM Keir Starmer and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez He faced Trump’s wrathwho accepted them not supportive enough while supporting the war of his own choosing.
But even the German Chancellor Friedrich MerzThe Israeli Prime Minister, who has broadly supported the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, said on Tuesday that “with every day of the war, more problems arise.”
“Above all, we are concerned about the lack of a common plan on how this war can be brought to a quickly convincing end,” Merz said.
Merz emphasized that “Germany and Europe have no interest in an endless war or the disintegration of Iran’s territorial integrity.”
Deflecting responsibility for school bombing
The president chose to take responsibility for the bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran that killed at least 165 people on the first day of the conflict.
Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for the attack and said security forces were “very wrong” about the munitions.
On Monday, after the research group Bellingcat shared: verified video Following a photo showing a US Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a Revolutionary Guard facility near the school, causing an explosion, Trump once again insisted it might have been Iran’s fault, but said he would accept whatever the ongoing US investigation into the matter finds.
Minister falsely claimed Tehran had access to Tomahawks, a US-made weapons system available only to the US and a few close allies.
Asked by a reporter, Leavitt did not directly answer why Trump made his false claim that Iran had access to the US-made missile.
Instead, he responded in part by saying, “The President has the right to share his views with the American public,” while noting that he “said he would accept the outcome of the investigation.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) told reporters Trump’s claim was “beyond stupid.”
“Once again, he speaks his mind, regardless of the truth,” Schumer said. “And we all know he’s lying, but something this terrible is truly terrifying.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, was among Trump’s allies and gently made the case that it was important for the Trump administration to explain what happened to the school.
Cramer said the military must “do everything we can to eliminate these mistakes going forward.”
“But at the same time, you can’t take that back,” he added.
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This story has been corrected to show that seven US soldiers were killed, not eight.
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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Ben Finley and Linley Sanders in Washington and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed reporting.
