Trump says Iran war will be over "very soon"
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President Trump during a news conference in Doral, Fla., on Monday. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
President Trump said the war with Iran will be over "very soon" but made clear it will not happen this week.
Why it matters: Ten days after the war started, Trump has started for the first time to point to the possibility of the war winding down soon.
- His comments at a press conference were in line with several other public signals from him on Monday.
- Some U.S. officials think Trump's comments are aimed at calming the stock markets in the U.S. and around the world, which were shaken by the war.
The latest: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in response to Trump's comments that they "are the ones who will determine the end of the war," per state media.
- The IRGC added that Tehran would not allow the export of "one litre of oil" from the region if the U.S. and Israeli attacks continued — prompting Trump to respond with a counter-threat on Truth Social:
Driving the news: In a speech before his press conference, Trump said: "We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough."
- When asked about those remarks during the press conference, Trump said he wanted to reach a situation where Iran would not be able to have a nuclear weapons program and would need a long time before it can threaten the region again with ballistic missiles.
- Trump claimed that after 10 days of fighting, the U.S. military is where it thought it would be only after a month of war.
- He listed U.S. military achievements of the war so far: The destruction of the Iranian navy, air force, anti-aircraft systems, and radars and telecommunication, and the decimation of the Iranian leadership.
- "It's all gone," he said. "We could call it a tremendous success right now. I could call it or we could go further, and we're going to go further, but the big risk on that war has been over for three days."
Zoom in: Trump focused in his remarks on the rising oil prices and claimed it is only a short-term situation. After Iran doesn't pose a threat to the region and to commercial shipping anymore, the oil market will be much more stable, he said.
- "If Iran will try harming oil supply it will be hit much stronger by the U.S.," he said.
What to watch: Trump said he was "disappointed" with the decision to appoint Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Iranian supreme leader, following his father's killing in an Israeli airstrike last month.
- "It will lead to more of the same problem for the country," he said.
Yes, but: Trump refused to say whether Mojtaba Khamenei "has a target on his back," telling reporters it would be "inappropriate" of him to address this.
- He said he wants a new Iranian leader who comes from within Iran, like in Venezuela, without tearing down completely the system in the country like the U.S. did in Iraq.
- But he stressed the new Iranian leader should have a different policy than his predecessor.
- "We need a system that could lead to many years of peace, and if we can't have that we might as well get it over with right now," Trump said, hinting that the U.S. and Israel could take more action to change the Iranian regime.
The bottom line: "It is going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again, [Iran] will be getting hit even harder," Trump said.
Go deeper: Iran war's energy price shock is likely to spiral economy-wide
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.
