President Trump Claims US Military Goals in Iran Nearly Achieved

JAKARTA - President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States was moving toward a resolution of the war against Iran, but gave no specifics on when exactly the conflict would end, or how.

In a speech from the White House, President Trump said the "core strategic objective" of the war was nearly complete, estimating it would end operations in the next two or three weeks, a prediction he had made on Tuesday.

Furthermore, President Trump did not mention the possibility of sending ground troops to Iranian territory, nor did he discuss in depth the global economic impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, focusing only briefly on rising gasoline prices in the US.

"Militarily, everyone is talking about it, and tonight, I'm happy to say that this core strategic objective is almost complete," he said, quoted by The National (2/3).

"We're going to get this job done. And we're going to get it done very quickly. We're very close," President Trump said.

The White House has announced his speech as a delivery of "important updates on Iran". The television network of the Uncle Sam State was instructed to provide 20 minutes of time to broadcast President Trump's speech.

However, President Trump provided little new information and much of what he said was simply a repetition of messages he or his officials had previously delivered.

Observers have speculated he may use his speech to lash out at NATO countries or even threaten the defense alliance with a US withdrawal over what he sees as delays in helping secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Instead, he focused on praising his Middle Eastern partners, mentioning Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain.

"They are great, and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way," he said.

Previously, President Trump said Iran had asked the US for a ceasefire, but Washington would only consider it when the Strait of Hormuz was fully open, a claim denied by Tehran.

During his speech, he made only a passing reference to ceasefire talks or diplomacy. He only referred to an "agreement."

"If there is no agreement, we will attack every one of their power plants very hard and maybe simultaneously," he said, adding that the US military had not targeted the plants because Iran would have no chance of surviving.

Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry said the claim of the ceasefire request was "false and unfounded," according to state television.

Now in its fifth week, the conflict has left President Trump vacillating between expressing optimism for diplomacy and threatening further escalation.

A central issue for the Trump administration is the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for about a fifth of the world's oil supplies.

Rising oil and gas prices could be a challenge for Trump ahead of this year's midterm elections.

Iran is known to maintain the blockade of the waterway, which has led to rising energy prices and drawn sharp criticism from Trump, who has linked his domestic political position to economic performance.

In his speech, President Trump said the US was now independent of the Middle East and did not need its oil, but was in the region to "help our allies".

"We are now completely independent of the Middle East, however, we are there to help," he said.

"We don't have to be there. We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have, but we're there to help our allies," President Trump said.