U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a prime-time address that military operations against Iran would continue for at least two more weeks despite claiming most American objectives had nearly been achieved. In his first live speech since launching the conflict over a month ago, Trump declared Iran's military infrastructure largely destroyed, stating, "We are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly." He pledged intensified strikes, adding, "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." Analysts noted the contradiction between declaring victory imminent and vowing escalation. Brett McGurk, former U.S. National Security Council adviser on the Middle East, said Trump's message was not de-escalatory but signaled prolonged conflict. Trump claimed Iran's navy was gone, its air force in ruins, its Revolutionary Guard decimated, and its weapons factories destroyed. He asserted that Iran's nuclear sites had been so severely damaged it would take months to access what he called "nuclear dust," though he provided no evidence. Despite these claims, Iran has continued missile attacks across the region, and Israel has maintained its strikes on Iranian targets. Trump dismissed plans to seize the Strait of Hormuz or Iran's stockpile of 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, according to International Atomic Energy Agency data. Instead, he urged other nations to "go to the strait and just take it," while threatening on social media to target Iran's electricity and water desalination plants unless the waterway was "immediately 'Open for Business.'" The strait remains partially closed, with Iran attacking tankers from U.S.-allied nations, contributing to rising global oil prices. The U.S. has not clarified how it plans to reopen the strategic passage or what conditions would lead to a ceasefire.
When Trump says the war is "nearly over" while promising to "hit them extremely hard" for weeks more, he is not signaling victory — he is manufacturing justification for deeper escalation. His refusal to secure the Strait of Hormuz or neutralize Iran's enriched uranium stockpile reveals a strategy unmoored from coherent military or diplomatic goals. This is not a path to peace but a cycle of self-fulfilling aggression where threats breed retaliation, and retaliation fuels more threats. Global oil markets will remain on edge not because of Iranian unpredictability, but because the U.S. president is now the chief source of strategic confusion.
