Trump Says War With Iran Will End Soon, Calls for New Leader to Achieve Peace

Ten days after the United States joined Israel in attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Donald Trump on the 9th (local time) outlined the current state of the war. He repeatedly stressed that the conflict would end very soon and said he was disappointed with Iran’s new leadership.
According to ABC News and other U.S. outlets, Trump held a press conference that day at Trump National Doral Miami in Miami, State of Florida. When asked when military operations against Iran would end, he answered that the "war will end soon." When a reporter followed up by asking whether the war would be over this week, he replied, "No." Trump said that while the United States could already declare its military operations against Iran a success, "we are going to go further." He added, "If the attacks start again, they will suffer a much heavier blow." Trump said U.S. forces had begun striking Iran’s drone facilities and emphasized that operations to destroy targets inside Iran were progressing faster than planned.
Trump claimed that since the start of the operation, U.S. forces had "eliminated the Iranian leadership two or three times," asserting that the leadership directing the war had "disappeared." He argued, "We need to put in place a new leader to achieve peace," but said he was "disappointed" that the Iranian government chose Mojtaba Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader. Iran appointed Mojtaba, the second son of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as his successor on the 8th, after the elder Khamenei was killed in a blast during U.S.-Israeli attacks on the 28th of last month. Referring to Mojtaba, widely seen as a hard-liner, Trump said, "I think this will only make the same problems in Iran even worse."
Trump also warned that in response to any move by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz and drive up oil prices, "If Iran disrupts oil supplies, we will hit them even harder." Trump, who had previously pushed for tough measures against buyers of Russian Federation oil, said that after a roughly one-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that day, "We are granting exemptions from certain oil-related sanctions in order to lower prices," adding, "We will lift those sanctions until the situation is stabilized."
At the press conference on the 9th, Trump said, "I had a very good conversation with Putin, and he wants to be very constructive." He added that he and Putin "of course talked about the Middle East as well. Putin wants to be helpful," and recalled telling him, "It would be even more helpful if the war between Ukraine and Russia came to an end."
On the same day, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser at the Kremlin, said Putin had mentioned "several considerations aimed at a swift political and diplomatic resolution of the Iran situation" during the call. Ushakov said Putin’s proposals to Trump included "contacts with leaders of Persian Gulf states, a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and talks with several other national leaders." Earlier, The Washington Post reported on the 6th, citing officials, that Russia had provided Iran with the locations of U.S. military assets in the Middle East after the war with Iran began on the 28th of last month.


pjw@fnnews.com Park Jong-won Reporter