Trump says Iran war objectives ‘pretty much complete’ as oil price falls
United States President Donald Trump has said in an interview that the current US-Israeli military operations in Iran were almost finished, noting that the US war objectives in Iran were nearing completion.
Trump who had envisaged between four to six weeks for the operations said the US is quite ahead of schedule in achieving its objectives in Iran.
As the crisis in the Middle East continued into a second week, the US President said the campaign was far ahead of his initial timeline.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.
“If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense,” Trump said in an audio interview with CBS news.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell and equities rallied on Tuesday following several swings that occurred after Trump said the US-Israel war on Iran would be ending earlier than expected.
Speaking in a news conference in Florida Trump said: “it’s going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again they’ll be hit even harder”.
The US President also threatened further attacks of immense proportion against Iran if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by the Iranian regime; the strait being the sea route through which a fifth of global oil supplies pass.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America twenty times harder than they have been hit thus far.
“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back as a nation, again — Death, fire, and fury will reign upon them — But I hope and pray that it does not happen,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He said the gesture was a gift from the United States to China and other nations that use the Strait of Hormuz as route for oil vessels, while hoping the gesture would be appreciated.
The crisis in the Middle East had sent shockwaves through markets with the fear of a prolonged war, as crude prices increased by about 30 percent, peaking above $119 per barrel before its current downward trajectory to as low as $84.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations had also decided to discuss tapping stockpiles to ease supply constraints.
Trump said he would waive some Ukraine war-linked sanctions on Russian oil sales to India, a temporary move according to White House officials.
