On the evening of Friday, March 13, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had been “completely crushed” and now “wants to make a deal” with the United States—two weeks after the start of a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against the country in the Middle East.
“The Fake News Media hates reporting how successful the American military is against Iran, which has been completely crushed and wants to make a deal—but not the kind of deal I would agree to!” Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social.
The message came after the United States carried out, in the president’s own words, “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East and completely destroyed all MILITARY targets in Iran’s jewel—on Khark Island.”
Trump also wrote on Truth Social that it would be “wise for Iran to lay down its weapons and save what remains of their country—and there is not much left.”
The strikes came after Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, declared on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed for as long as the conflict continues. The closure of the strait has already triggered a sharp rise in oil and gas prices, heightening fears of economic disruption.
On Saturday, Iran threatened retaliatory strikes against cities in the United Arab Emirates. Iranian military officials claim that the strikes on Khark Island were launched from there.
At the same time, Trump has offered varying descriptions of how long the military operation—which is now approaching its third week—might continue and how it could ultimately end.
“It will continue for as long as necessary,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Friday. Earlier, he said he had “his own idea” of how long the conflict might last. According to him, U.S. strikes against Iran are proceeding “far ahead of schedule,” though he provided no further details.
The president and Pentagon officials, however, have sent conflicting signals about when the conflict might end, even as they insist that U.S. objectives regarding Iran are close to being achieved.
In an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Friday, Trump gave a different answer when asked how he would know the moment had come to end the conflict.
“When it’s all over—and I don’t think it will take long—when it’s all over, everything will rebuild very quickly,” Trump said. When the host pressed him to clarify, the president added: “When I feel it. When I feel it in my bones.”
Earlier, Trump had mentioned different timelines for how long the conflict might last. Two days after the first strikes on Iran on February 28, he said the operation could last “four to five weeks” or longer. A week later, the president said the “excursion” in Iran was something “we are already very close to finishing.”