Trump admits Iran war was only at behest of 'allies', gives no withdrawal timeline

The remarks echo those of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who suggested in the early days of the war that Israel's concerns about Iran drove the US into action. The administration later veered away from that message. We're now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet, we are there to help, Trump said in a scripted evening address in reference to US energy production. We don't have to be there. We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have. We're there to help our allies. Trump touted what he said were swift, decisive, overwhelming US successes in its 32-day war so far, and that the core strategic objectives are nearing completion. He gave no timeline for when the US might end its attacks, but warned there is more devastation to come. We are going to finish the job, but we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close, the president said. We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong. 'Regime change is not the goal' As he read through a litany of reasons as to why he launched the war, Trump insisted that regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred, he said of Israel's assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and later the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani. The current supreme leader is Khamenei's son, Mojtaba. He has yet to be seen on camera or in public. Tonight, Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of the terrorist regime they led, are now dead. To that end, he added: I want to thank our allies in the Middle East: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. They've been great, and we will not let them get hurt or fail in any way, shape, or form, the president said in his remarks. Trump did not mention Oman, which was mediating talks between the US and Iran, and whose foreign minister pleaded with the US not to launch attacks just hours before the war began on 28 February. Oman is also the only Gulf country and major US ally in the region to have condemned the US-Israeli attacks, and not just the Iranian retaliation against US assets. Nearly 30 people have been killed in the Gulf countries so far. Israel does not fully disclose casualty numbers. As the war continues, We are systematically dismantling the regime's ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders, Trump said. This is despite Secretary of War Pete Hegseth asserting on Tuesday that Iran has never possessed the capabilities to attack the US. As for rising energy prices, the president gave no assurances to the American public about when they can expect relief from high prices at the pump. He said the petrol price hikes are temporary and that the US has never been better prepared economically. The hard part is done, Trump said. When this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. It'll just open up naturally. They're going to want to be able to sell oil, because that's all they have to try and rebuild, he said of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the global oil supply is shipped. Iran has closed the waterway to tankers linked to the US or Israel. The US, Trump added, has not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival. War on Iran Washington News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0