Trump says Iran war will end ‘shortly’ as he rips into allies for lacking ‘courage’ on Strait of Hormuz: ‘Just take it’

President Donald Trump claimed near victory in the Iran war during a low energy address to the nation Wednesday night in the White House’s Cross Hall. 

The President spoke for under 20 minutes and didn’t announce any major developments – including whether ground troops would need to be deployed or who would take over leadership of the country. 

Instead, he repeated that Operation Epic Fury would conclude ‘shortly,’ noting that the US’s military objectives were ‘nearing completion.’

He also didn’t say what would signal an end to the conflict – just that the fighting would be more intense before it ended. 

‘We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two or three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong,’ Trump warned.

He challenged US allies to go and ‘take’ the Strait of Hormuz, proclaiming that the US didn’t need the oil from the ships that had been blocked by Iran since the conflict began in late February. 

‘I have a suggestion. No. 1, buy oil from the United States of America, we have plenty, we have so much,’ Trump said. 

‘And No. 2, build up some delayed coverage – should have done it before, should have done it with us as we asked – go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves,’ he continued. 

He told US allies that ‘Iran has been essentially decimated.’

Trump spoke of Americans’ concerns about high gas prices and blamed the spike entirely on the Islamic regime.

‘Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home,’ the President said. ‘This short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers in neighboring countries.’ 

The Iran war helped drive Trump’s poll numbers last month to their lowest ever, according to the Daily Mail/JL Partners polling, bringing him down to 42 percent approval.

Once he started floating a possible ceasefire deal, his numbers quickly climbed back up to 46 percent.

The Daily Mail’s March poll showed that Americans largely blamed gas price increases on Trump and not on the Iranian regime.  

Before tonight’s remarks, the President hadn’t made a major address from the White House on the Iran war since it began last month. 

After the US and Israel started joint strikes on Iran on February 28, Trump shared the news in an overnight video clip filmed at Mar-a-Lago and posted on Truth Social.

He opted to do the same throughout the opening weekend of the war, while also making himself available to reporters through phone calls. 

The Daily Mail spoke with him on March 1, where he broke the news that he expected the Iran war to go on for about four weeks.

‘It’s always been a four-week process,’ he said. 

The deadline has been extended since then. 

The conflict hit its month mark on Saturday. 

It was unlikely that Trump would announce anything other than a victory in the war, though the goals have shifted over a month’s time. 

While Trump originally promised the Iranian protesters that ‘help is on its way,’ that suggested he would make moves to get rid of the oppressive Islamic regime that took over the country after the 1979 Iranian revolution. 

The US and Israeli air strikes did take out Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – with Iranian leaders replacing Khamenei with his son, who hasn’t been seen in public – it doesn’t appear that the American military intervention will easily pave the way to an elected democracy.

Still, Trump has boasted that he’s accomplished some form of ‘regime change.’ 

‘We’ve knocked out one regime. We knocked out the second regime. Now we have a group of people that’s very, that are very different. They’re much more reasonable, I think much more – much less radicalized,’ Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday. 

He made similar claims on Wednesday.

‘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 posted to Truth Social Wednesday, ahead of his address. 

‘We will consider 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!!!’ the President added. 

Iranian officials continue to deny that they’re engaged in negotiations with Iran, including asking for a ceasefire.  

Trump also made conflicting statements about Iran’s nuclear threat.

In June, after the completion of Operation Midnight Hammer, he stood in a different spot in the White House’s Cross Hall and said the nuclear sites had been ‘obliterated.’ 

As he launched Operation Epic Fury, he said he did so to stop Iran’s nuclear threat and ensure the Islamic Regime never got its hands on a nuclear weapon. 

On Wednesday, Trump shrugged off Iran’s nuclear threat in an interview with Reuters.

He said Iran’s uranium, which was enriched to up to 60 percent purity, meaning it could quickly be turned into weapons-grade uranium, wasn’t a big problem.

‘That’s so far underground, I don’t care about that,’ he told Reuters. 

‘We’ll always be watching it by satellite,’ he added, saying the country is ‘incapable’ of developing a nuclear weapon now. 

As for the Strait of Hormuz, even before he gave his address, he made it clear that it was somebody else’s problem.