President Donald Trump on Wednesday previewed a possible Iran exit strategy for the United States by saying the military could leave “pretty quickly” and return when it’s needed.
While speaking to Reuters, Trump was asked when the U.S. military would consider the more than monthlong conflict to be over. He responded by saying that the United States will leave “pretty quickly.”
“They won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have to, we’ll come back to do spot hits,” Trump said, detailing a possible strategy moving forward.
Trump told the newswire service that he believes the Iranian regime will be compliant with the United States “because they don’t want to be blasted anymore.”
“The big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding: “Nor do they want one.”
With the war in its fifth week, Trump has been under pressure to wrap up the operation due to rising gasoline and energy prices. The president scheduled a 9 p.m. ET speech on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.
A day earlier, Trump told reporters at the White House the conflict could end within two to three weeks. He’s said that Washington is in discussions with certain Iranian regime officials, telling the New York Post on Monday that one of them is Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, although some Iranian foreign ministry officials have denied that any direct talks are occurring.
The president on Wednesday ahead of his speech to the American people said that Iran’s president wanted a cease-fire, according to a statement Trump made through his Truth Social website. However, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Trump’s remarks were “false and baseless.”
Trump also remarked that a cease-fire would only happen once the Strait of Hormuz is open and free to use. “Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he wrote.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on Wednesday claimed that Iran is in full control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway that carries about one-fifth of the world’s crude oil. The Trump administration has warned Iran that if it doesn’t move to reopen the strait, Iranian energy infrastructure and other facilities would be targeted by U.S. forces.
In the midst of the comments signaling an off-ramp to the war, Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, released a statement through state-run media reiterating his support for the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group and its leadership. The statement also affirmed that Iran would continue to support anti-Israel forces in the Middle East.