Trump hints at wind down of war as US prepares to send more troops to Gulf | US-Israel war on Iran
Donald Trump said he was considering “ending” military operations in the Middle East, as the US reportedly will send three amphibious assault ships and about 2,500 additional marines to the region.
The US president’s remarks on Friday follow Iran’s threats to attack entertainment and tourist attractions around the world and a wave of airstrikes, drone and missile strikes that have engulfed the region.
The United States is reportedly considering plans to occupy or blockade Iran’s strategically important Kharg Island in a bid to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump on Friday sent mixed messages about the possibility of an end to the three-week war. First, he ruled out reaching a ceasefire agreement with Iran and said Washington had the upper hand.
“I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know, you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally destroying the other side,” he told reporters at the White House.
But later Friday night, he wrote on the Truth Social platform that the United States was considering “ending” military operations in Iran. “As we consider halting our major military efforts in the Middle East regarding the Iranian Regime of Terror, we are getting very close to achieving our goals,” he wrote.
Reports that Washington is considering plans to invade or blockade Kharg Island come despite Trump’s earlier suggestions that he was not inclined to “knuckle down”.
Any attempt to physically occupy Kharg Island would likely require high risks and expose American forces there to Iranian drone and rocket fire in a geographically limited area.
Measuring just 20 square kilometers in size and located 16 miles (25 km) from Bushehr, Iran, at the northern tip of the Gulf, the Kharg Island terminal exports about 90% of Iran’s oil, piped from nearby offshore fields.
Iran is heavily dependent on revenue from fossil fuels, and any attempt to seize such an important strategic asset would almost certainly be opposed.
Writing on social media on Friday, Trump said: “Without the US, NATO IS A PAPER TIGER! They didn’t want to join the fight to stop Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight has WON Militaryly, there is little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they have to pay, but they don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, which is a simple military maneuver that is the sole reason for the high oil prices. It’s easy for them to do it, with very little risk.” COWARDS, WE WILL REMEMBER TOO!”
The Pentagon has already deployed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid response force of about 2,200 Marines, to the Middle East. Military officials did not say what missions the sailors sent to the Middle East would be assigned to perform.
The attack ship USS Boxer, carrying the Marine Expeditionary Unit, will also leave the United States about three weeks ahead of schedule, officials said. It is not clear what their duties are.
The Trump administration and its Israeli allies have given conflicting briefings about their intentions in the war. Descriptions of the plans seem to change almost daily, and their consequences are reflected in the statements of administration officials grappling with a war that is beyond their control.
A White House official said: “As President Trump has said, he has no plans to send troops anywhere – but wisely he is not broadcasting his military strategy to the media and, as commander in chief, he is retaining all options. The US military could seize Kharg Island at any time.”
The war showed no signs of abating on Friday, as an Iranian drone strike hit a refinery in Kuwait and the United States and Israel hit 16 Iranian cargo ships in Gulf port cities.
“Following the American-Zionist air strike, at least 16 cargo ships belonging to citizens in the towns of Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Kong were completely burned down in a fire,” a local official from southern Hormozgan province said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.
While people were celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan, heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses stopped incoming rockets.
Separately, Israel attacked Syrian government positions just days after US officials anonymously suggested using the same Syrian forces to disarm Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon.
As violence continues across the region from Tel Aviv and Haifa to the Caspian Sea, oil and gas prices are rising and there are warnings of a spreading global economic shock, worsened by increasingly inconsistent messaging from Washington.
As the fourth week of the war approaches, Kuwait said two waves of Iranian drone strikes hit the Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery, one of three oil refineries in the small, oil-rich Gulf nation. The refinery, which can process about 730,000 barrels of oil per day, had already been damaged by another Iranian attack on Thursday.
Iran has stepped up its attacks on energy facilities in Gulf Arab countries after Israel bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Gulf on Wednesday.
Explosions were heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned about Iranian missiles.
Iran’s new religious leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured in the first US-Israeli attacks, said in a rare statement that Tehran’s enemies should be “secured”.
Khamenei has not been seen since replacing his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war. The remarks were part of a statement issued on his behalf and sent to president Masoud Pezeshkian after Israel killed intelligence minister Ismail Khatib this week.
The renewed attacks come after a busy day in which Iran hit energy infrastructure in the region and launched more than a dozen missile salvos into Israel following the South Pars attack.
South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gas field, is located offshore in the Gulf and is jointly owned by Qatar.
