WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told the nation in a primetime address Wednesday that the U.S. military’s “little journey” in Iran will wrap up “very shortly.”
“We are systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran’s navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their air force and their missile program at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base. We’ve done all of it,” he said.
“There’s never been anything like it, militarily,” Trump added. “Everyone is talking about it, and tonight, I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
The White House had announced late Tuesday that Trump would deliver televised remarks, prompting speculation that he might make a major announcement about the month-long, costly and deadly conflict. Instead, his 18-minute speech largely repeated claims administration officials have been making for weeks.
Trump warned the U.S. will strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks and vowed to “bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong,” echoing statements he has made on social media and to reporters.
An unpopular conflict
The war has reverberated across the Middle East, producing thousands of deaths, including 13 U.S. service members, and significant damage to energy and civilian infrastructure. Global oil prices spiked after Iran seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, and U.S. gasoline prices have risen.
Public support for the war has been limited. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found roughly two-thirds of Americans favor efforts to end the conflict quickly, even if some objectives remain unmet.
Trump’s statements about goals and an exit from the fighting have shifted frequently. He told reporters Tuesday that Iran’s regime had been changed and he planned to end the campaign in “two or three weeks.”
Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Majtaba Khamenei, is reportedly close to — and possibly more radical than — his father, Ali Khamenei, whom U.S. and Israeli forces killed at the start of the war.
Trump was quoted by Reuters on Wednesday saying, “I don’t care” about near-weapons-grade uranium reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency as buried under rubble at a nuclear site that U.S. and Israeli forces bombed in June.
A major justification the administration gave for launching the campaign was to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump has reiterated that objective in speeches and social posts.
On Truth Social Wednesday morning, Trump wrote that “Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” He added the U.S. would consider a ceasefire “when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!! President DJT.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson dismissed the ceasefire claim as “false and baseless,” according to state-run PressTV.
War deaths, injuries, displacements
The Pentagon says 13 American service members have been killed and 350 have been injured in the conflict.
U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have caused significant civilian casualties. The Iran-based rights group HRANA put the Iranian civilian death toll at 1,598, including at least 244 children, as of Tuesday. Israel’s campaign in southern Lebanon has, according to Lebanese authorities, killed 1,240 people, wounded 3,680 and displaced about 1.1 million residents. Across the region, reporters and health officials compiled by international outlets say just over 185 deaths have been recorded in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s president posts open letter
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted what he called an open letter to Americans, accusing the Trump administration of lying about Iranian aggression and describing Tehran’s actions as “a measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense, and by no means an initiation of war or aggression.”
Pezeshkian asked whether “the massacre of innocent children, the destruction of cancer-treatment pharmaceutical facilities, or boasting about bombing a country ‘back to the stone ages’ serve any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing?” He was referring to a U.S. missile strike that killed 168 elementary school children on the war’s first day, a strike widely reported in international coverage.
The letter also noted that the Iranian regime killed thousands of its own citizens in January in response to nationwide anti-government protests, and it argued that ordinary Iranians bear no hostility toward other nations. Pezeshkian blamed Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal for worsening tensions. Video from 2018 shows Iranian lawmakers burning printouts of the U.S. flag and chanting “death to America” after that withdrawal.
Strikes by Iran
U.S. authorities say Iran has engaged in plots and attacks against American interests. A federal jury in early March convicted a trained Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps operative who had been sent to the U.S. to assassinate political figures, including Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Iran has also been linked to numerous attacks on U.S. bases in the region over decades. Notably, strikes in 2020 on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase caused traumatic brain injuries in more than 100 service members after a U.S. drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander. During the 2024 campaign, Trump referred to some troops’ brain injuries as mere “headaches.”
This article first appeared on News From The States, part of the States Newsroom, and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
