Trump claims US objectives ‘nearing completion’, tells allies to buy American oil
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The news: US President Donald Trump has claimed his “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” in Iran, as he seeks an off-ramp for the Middle East War.
The context: Delivering a nationwide address from the White House a month after launching the war, Trump ordered allies reeling from the impacts of his war to buy American oil and “go to the Strait [of Hormuz] and just take it”.
After weeks of mixed messages on his long-term intentions in Iran, Trump appeared to put a three-week timeline on America’s involvement in the conflict — repeating threats to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure.
Trump repeated claims that Iran’s navy and airforce have been “completely decimated”, though Tehran has continued to launch attacks since he first made those claims.
“I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” Trump said.
“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages.”
Iran’s closure of the Strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supplies flow, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing across the globe.
The US’ key allies have refused to join its joint assault launched with Israel, prompting Trump to question Washington’s commitment to the NATO alliance.
“I have a suggestion. Number one, buy oil from the United States of America. We have plenty. We have so much. And number two, build up some delayed courage,” he told US allies.
“Go to the Strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves … It’ll open up naturally.”
Despite anger among US allies over the conflict, the president claimed he had attacked Iran “to help” them.
“We’re now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet, 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.”
Simultaneously, Trump argued Iran’s nuclear weapons program — which he claimed he had “obliterated” last year — posed a threat to the US.
“[Its nuclear ambitions] should have been handled long before I arrived in office,” he said.
“We totally obliterated those nuclear sites. The regime then sought to rebuild their nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear they had no intention of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Trump’s approval rating has slumped to its lowest level across either administration, partly driven by rising fuel prices.
The president argued prices will “rapidly go down” once the conflict concluded, claiming high prices in the interim were “entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks”.
Earlier on Thursday, Tehran flatly rejected Trump’s claims that it had requested a ceasefire. It was the latest in a series of denials from Iran over the US’ assessment of the state of negotiations.
What they said: “I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion," Trump said.
“We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”
The sources: Donald Trump address, Al Jazeera
