President Donald Trump at a press conference on Monday said the war against Iran will end “very soon,” and also said that oil prices will drop.
Trump’s rosy prediction came after a weekend that saw the price of oil skyrocket to above $100 per barrel, roiling global financial markets.
“We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective,” Trump said nine days after launching the war on Iran with Israel on Feb. 28.
Trump, who with his deputies has offered shifting explanations of what the war’s objective is, did not on Monday detail his end game, instead touting military successes.
“We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out, very completely,” the president said at his Trump National Doral club near Miami, where he touted the destruction of more than 50 Iranian naval ships, and decimation of its air force and anti-aircraft defenses.
“They have no leadership. It’s all been blown up.”
Asked if the war would end this week, Trump said, “No,” but added, “Very soon.” He proceeded to threaten further military action if he deems it necessary and said the U.S. has not yet hit some of Iran’s most sensitive targets, including its electricity infrastructure.
Earlier Monday, an Iranian official suggested that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for crude oil shipments, risked attack by Iran. Only a handful of commercial vessels are moving through the Strait, said Matt Smith, oil analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler.
Despite that threat, Trump said oil supplies will be more secure for the world in the long run because of the war and threatened to hit Iran even harder if it withholds crude from markets. While most of the oil that moves through the Strait of Hormuz is bound for Asia, the U.S. depends on a global supply that is heavy on imports from Asia.
“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Trump said.
He also said that the war would be over when Iran no longer had the capacity to use weapons against the U.S., Israel and other allies for a long time.
Asked by a reporter to explain the difference between his prediction of a quick end to the war and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent comment that the war is just beginning, Trump said both could be true.
“It’s the beginning of building a new country,” Trump said. He has pledged to keep the U.S. out of another lengthy entanglement in the Middle East.
Trump said he is “disappointed” in Iran’s choice of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as the country’s supreme leader. But, when asked at the press conference, he declined to say he would seek to assassinate him.
Trump earlier Monday spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who reportedly shared proposals about the U.S. quickly ending the war.
At his press conference, Trump said Putin “was very impressed with what he saw” the U.S. do in Iran.
“This is an excursion a lot of other people wouldn’t have done,” Trump said. “This was a military success, the likes of which people haven’t seen.”
—Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
