Trump claims progress against Iran but gives no timeline to end war

President Donald Trump declared in a televised address that the US military was close to meeting its objectives in Iran, yet he offered no firm end date for the month-long war and warned that the country could be bombed back into the “stone ages”.

Markets recoiled after Mr Trump signalled that military action would intensify over the next two to three weeks, without setting out a concrete path to ending a conflict that has rattled global energy supplies and raised fears of a broader economic shock.

Brent crude, which had slipped back below $100 a barrel yesterday, leapt almost 7% to $108.15, while West Texas Intermediate climbed more than 5% to $105.65.

Confronting a US public increasingly weary of war, falling approval ratings and calls from some allies for a clearer account of his aims, Mr Trump said American forces had wiped out Iran’s navy and air force and badly damaged its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

“We have all the cards,” Mr Trump said from the White House in his first prime-time address since the US and Israel began the war on 28 February.

“They have none.”

He brushed past several major unanswered questions, including the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium and passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for world oil supplies that Iran has effectively shut.

That waterway, he said, would reopen “naturally” once the war was over.

Read more: Questions over Iran war remain after Trump’s address

Mr Trump’s 19-minute speech offered few new details and little comfort to Americans and US allies facing higher prices at the pump and growing frustration over the conflict.

Stocks dropped, the dollar strengthened and oil climbed soon after his remarks, underscoring a broad market view that the war may continue for some time.

‘Back to the stone ages’

The president and his advisers have given shifting accounts of both the conflict’s timeline and the conditions Iran would have to meet for it to end.

Even as he cast Iran as militarily broken, Mr Trump said last night that the US would keep pounding the country for another two or three weeks.

He said that if Iran’s new leaders failed to negotiate on acceptable terms, the US would move to strike the country’s power generation and oil facilities.

Watch: Trump says US has ‘decimated’ Iran

As Mr Trump spoke, air raid sirens sounded across both Doha and Tel Aviv, a reminder that the Islamic Republic still retains the ability to disrupt the region despite sustaining major losses.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Mr Trump said.

“We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.”

“In the meantime, discussions are ongoing,” he added.

“Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets.”

Just a day earlier, Mr Trump had told reporters that Tehran did not need to strike a deal before the conflict could begin to wind down.

5 key points from Donald Trump’s televised address

Though the president briefly recognised mounting concern among Americans over rising fuel costs, he argued that prices would soon fall and said Iran was largely to blame for the increases.

He also said countries that rely heavily on Gulf oil should take primary responsibility for reopening the strait. Britain, France and other US allies have said they would be prepared to help secure the route, but only once hostilities are over.

“They can do it easily,” Mr Trump said. “We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” he said.

Mr Trump has voiced frustration that NATO allies have not stepped forward to help reopen the strait, at one stage even threatening to pull out of the 76-year-old alliance.

Although he told Reuters earlier in the day that he would address the US relationship with NATO in his speech, he made no mention of the alliance.

Public eager for war to end

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted between Friday and Sunday found that 60% of voters disapproved of the war, while 35% approved. Some 66% said the US should move quickly to end its involvement, even if that meant falling short of the administration’s stated goals.

Mr Trump, for his part, has alternated between signalling escalation and suggesting restraint, leaving even some close advisers uncertain about what comes next. His speech did little to clear that up.

Administration officials have discussed a high-risk operation to seize Iran’s remaining stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, along with possible ground missions to capture strategic territory – including parts of Iran’s coastline and Kharg Island, the route for most of Iran’s oil exports.

Thousands of additional troops are still moving toward the Gulf region, a sign that the president intends to preserve a wide range of military options.

Mr Trump urged Americans to “keep this conflict in perspective,” saying previous wars in Iraq, Vietnam and Korea had demanded far longer US commitments.

War crimes allegation

Masoud Pezeshkian asked ‘which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US of war crimes and of acting under Israeli influence ahead of Mr Trump’s closely watched address.

He appealed directly to Americans, asking whether the war in the Middle East was really advancing an “America first” agenda.

“Attacking Iran’s vital infrastructure – including energy and industrial facilities – directly targets the Iranian people,” Mr Pezeshkian said in an open letter published on his website.

He added: “Beyond constituting a war crime, such actions carry consequences that extend far beyond Iran’s borders.”

They sow “instability, increase human and economic costs”, and plant “seeds of resentment that will endure for years”, he continued.

“Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?”