By Trevor Hunnicutt, Gram Slattery and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said in a televised speech on Wednesday night that the U.S. military had nearly accomplished its goals in Iran, but offered no clear timeline for ending the monthlong war and vowed to bomb the country back into the “Stone Ages.”
Facing a war-wary American public, sliding approval ratings and pressure from some allies to outline his war aims in more precise and consistent terms, Trump said the U.S. had destroyed Iran’s navy and air force, and crippled its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
But he declined to lay out a concrete plan to wind down the war, now in its fifth week, beyond saying that the U.S. would finish the job “very fast.”
“We have all the cards,” Trump said from the White House in his first primetime address since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28. “They have none.”
He glossed over some major unresolved issues such as the status of Iran’s enriched uranium and access through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for global oil supplies which Iran has effectively closed.
The strait, he said, would open “naturally” once the war ended.
Trump’s 19-minute address broke little new ground and offered scant reassurance to Americans and U.S. allies who are feeling increasing pain at the gas pump and growing impatience with the war.
Stocks fell, the dollar firmed and oil rose shortly after Trump’s comments, reflecting widespread sentiment that the conflict is likely to drag on for some time.
‘BACK TO THE STONE AGES’
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 U.S. would hit the nation hard for another two or three weeks.
If the country’s new leaders did not negotiate satisfactorily, he said, the U.S. would begin attacking the nation’s electricity generation and oil infrastructure.
As Trump spoke, air sirens blared across both Doha and Tel Aviv, illustrating how the Islamic Republic is still able to wreak havoc across the Middle East, despite taking heavy losses.
“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,” he added. “Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets.”
A day earlier, Trump told reporters Tehran did not have to make a deal as a prerequisite for the conflict to wind down.
While the president on Wednesday briefly acknowledged growing concerns among Americans that the war is making gasoline unaffordable, he insisted that prices would soon go down and that the increases were mainly Iran’s fault.
He added that countries that get most of their oil supply from the Gulf region should take the lead in opening the strait. Britain, France and other U.S. allies have said they are willing to help to keep the strait open but only after hostilities have ceased.
“They can do it easily,” Trump said. “We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on,” he said.
Trump has expressed anger that NATO allies have not offered to help open the strait, even threatening to withdraw from the 76-year-old alliance.
While he had told Reuters earlier in the day that he would discuss the U.S. relationship with NATO in his speech, he did not mention the bloc.
PUBLIC WANTS WAR OVER
In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted Friday through Sunday, 60% of voters said they disapproved of the war, while 35% approved. Some 66% of respondents said the U.S. should work to end its involvement in the war quickly, even if that meant not achieving the goals set out by the administration.
Trump, meanwhile, has flirted with options both to escalate and de-escalate the conflict and his next moves are unclear, even to some close advisers. His speech offered little additional clarity.
Administration officials have floated a daring operation to physically seize Iran’s remaining stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, as well as ground operations to seize strategic pieces of land – including parts of Iran’s coastline and Kharg Island, through which Iran exports the vast majority of its oil.
Thousands of additional troops continue to sail toward the Gulf region, indicating the president wants to keep his military options open.
Trump asked Americans to “keep this conflict in perspective,” noting prior wars in Iraq, Vietnam and Korea had required far longer U.S. involvement.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Steve Holland and Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Edmund Klamann and Stephen Coates)
