Trump claims success, but offers no clear timeline to end the war

President Donald Trump asserted the US-Israeli war in Iran was “nearing completion” during a prime-time address Wednesday, even as he offered no clear path out of the war and committed to bombing the nation “back to the Stone Ages where they belong.”

Trump did not make any revealing announcements in the speech. Instead, he described the military action against Iran as an overwhelming success and seemingly pleaded for concerned Americans uneasy about its costs and open-ended timeline to “keep this conflict in perspective.”

Trump ticked through the durations of the United States’ involvement in past conflicts, including the wars in Iraq and Vietnam, for the purpose of reminding Americans that the campaign against Iran had just entered its second month. But as he has done throughout the war, Trump did not offer a clear exit strategy and issued ambiguous and conflicting statements, weaving diplomatic overtures with threats of escalating attacks.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said in the 19-minute address. “If there’s no deal, we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard and properly simultaneously.”

Trump demanded that Iran negotiate to end the war, just a day after he suggested to reporters in the Oval Office that he did not need Iran to reach a deal to end the conflict.

Trump framed the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for oil worldwide, as an issue for other nations, even though earlier Wednesday, he had said on social media that he would not agree to any ceasefire deal unless it opened. Iran has choked off oil shipments through the strait, causing oil and natural gas prices to surge.

“We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” he said of other nations.

Trump also said that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed.” The U.S. and Israeli militaries have destroyed many of Iran’s ballistic missiles and launchers in airstrikes. But a large number are undamaged, and Iran continues to fire missiles in the region.

The speech at times resembled the kind of sober address Americans might expect to see at the start of a war, or even before it, when a president makes a case for why the time for military action is necessary. Trump did not travel the country delivering extensive speeches laying out that justification before the war, and the speech Wednesday night was his first prime-time address from the White House since the attacks on Iran began Feb. 28.

Trump argued that Iran was on the cusp of building a weapon. That is disputed: Iran certainly could have produced bomb-grade nuclear fuel within days or weeks. But it would have taken months or more than a year to fashion that fuel into a nuclear weapon, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded.

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Diplomatic freeze: While Trump insisted that talks were continuing with Iran, multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed in recent days that Iran is not currently willing to engage in substantial negotiations. The assessments say the Iranian government believes it is in a strong position in the war and does not have to accede to America’s diplomatic demands, officials said.

War objectives: Trump laid out five goals for the war on Feb. 28, just hours after joining with Israel to carry out the first strikes. While those attacks have done significant damage to Iran’s military capabilities, it still fires missiles, has nuclear material, and coordinates with militias in the region.

Strait of Hormuz: Earlier Wednesday, an Iranian official emphasized that the United States would not regain access to the waterway, saying in a social media post: “The Strait of Hormuz will certainly reopen, but not for you.”

Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,606 civilians had been killed, including 244 children, in Iran since the war began. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that more than 1,318 Lebanese had been killed as of Wednesday, with more than 3,935 others wounded, since the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began.
In Iran’s attacks across the Middle East, at least 50 people have been killed in the Gulf nations.
In Israel, at least 17 had been killed as of Friday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.