Washington: US President Donald Trump said that the United States could end its military involvement in Iran immediately but would not do so without guarantees that Tehran would never acquire nuclear weapons, even as he suggested the seven-month conflict could soon come to an end.
“We could leave right now, but, we have to guarantee that they can’t have it in the future. And we’ll get that,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a campaign rally in Tennessee.
Asked why he would not declare victory after claiming that American military operations had prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Trump said the United States needed to ensure that the threat did not re-emerge.
“Because I have to keep it that way. I don’t want to do it in two years. We have to have a guarantee that they won’t have it in the future,” he said.
The remarks followed an address in Clarksville, Tennessee, where Trump presented the military campaign against Iran as a major achievement of his administration while acknowledging the American lives lost during the conflict.
Trump said the United States had been engaged in the conflict for nearly seven months, contrasting its duration and casualties with earlier American wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
“Now in Iran, we’ve been there for seven months,” he said, before referring to the 18 American personnel he said had been killed.
“We have wounded, but we’ve stopped them from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump told supporters.
The president said he had met families of fallen service members at Dover Air Force Base and described those encounters as among the most difficult responsibilities of his office.
“We have stopped them from having a nuclear weapon, I believe, for all time, for all time. And we lost 18,” he said.
Trump also claimed that American military operations had destroyed much of Iran’s conventional military capability, including its navy, air force, radar systems and manufacturing infrastructure.
The president suggested that the conflict could end soon and that its conclusion would bring substantial relief to global energy markets.
“The war’s gonna end very soon, and when it ends, it’s gonna end. You’re gonna see the oil drop like a rock. You’ll be very happy,” he said.
His statements presented two related objectives: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and establishing assurances that would allow the United States to conclude its military campaign without having to resume operations later.
