The US President vowed to bring Iran back to the ‘Stone Ages’ in a televised speech on Wednesday.
The US President said his military had nearly accomplished its goals in Iran, but offered no clear timeline for the conflict coming to an end.
Despite facing pressure from allies amid sliding approval ratings, Trump declined to lay out a concrete plan to wind down the war, which is now in its fifth week.
He insisted the US would finish the job ‘very fast’ and that they had ‘all the cards’ in his first primetime address since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28.
He glossed over some major unresolved issues such as the status of Iran’s enriched uranium and access through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic passage for global oil supplies, which Iran has effectively closed.
Trump said the strait would open ‘naturally’ once the war ended’, breaking little ground to offer reassurance to the US allies as well as the American public.
The president and his advisers have offered shifting explanations and timelines for the conflict, as well as what they will require from Iran for it to end.
While portraying Iran as militarily neutered, Trump also said on Wednesday night the US would hit the nation hard for another two or three weeks.
If the country’s new leaders did not negotiate satisfactorily, he said, his country. would begin attacking the nation’s electricity generation and oil infrastructure.
We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said. ‘
We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong.”
In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.
Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets.”
A day before, Trump told reporters Tehran did not have to make a deal as a condition for the conflict to wind down.
