US President Donald Trump has said the Iran war is “militarily, effectively over”, signalling that a renewed campaign of major American strikes is unlikely despite speculation that further bombing could follow the midterm elections.
Speaking at a snap news conference alongside Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White, Mr Trump said the US was maintaining the status quo at the request of countries neighbouring Iran.
“Iran, militarily, is effectively over,” he said. “We’re just keeping it the status quo. We’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours.”
Mr Trump claimed Iran was facing 301 per cent inflation and severe military problems, saying its navy and air force had been destroyed and that it was no longer paying its military or Revolutionary Guard. He did not provide evidence for the inflation figure.
“At the conclusion of the military engagement, the American people and the people of the world will be far safer and more secure than they’ve been in many, many years,” he said.
He added: “That war was started in 1979. We didn’t start the war, they did … I don’t guarantee anything. But if we do have to go back in, we are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
The comments came shortly after Mr Trump met Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, at the White House. Qatar has been described as a key US partner in the region.
Mr Trump has previously made similar remarks, but his latest comments were more definitive and appeared to push back against suggestions that Washington was considering a fresh wave of attacks, described by some as a “final blow”.
In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Mr Trump said the US could bomb Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain if necessary, although he said there had been “very little activity there”. He said such an operation “would be done in one hour” and that the site, along with three other Iranian nuclear facilities bombed by the US last year, was under constant surveillance.
There has been little military action in recent months apart from limited strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil shipments through the waterway have increased under US Navy protection, but a long-term arrangement guaranteeing safe, toll-free passage, without attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has yet to be reached.
Mr Trump also acknowledged that the unpopular war had cost his Republican Party votes in last week’s midterm elections, in which the party lost control of both chambers of Congress. He attributed the result to higher petrol prices, opposition to the war and “a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel”.
At the news conference, the president also defended Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who faces an impeachment resolution in Congress.
