A week after voters handed his party one of the most lopsided midterm defeats in modern history, President Donald Trump walked into the White House briefing room on Monday and declared that the war he started in Iran is, in his words, basically done.
“Iran militarily is effectively over,” Trump told reporters, according to the Associated Press. “We’re just keeping it the status quo.”
A surprise appearance after meeting Qatar’s prime minister
Trump made the unannounced visit to the briefing room after meeting with Qatar’s prime minister earlier in the day. He said Iran has been “decapitated,” but that he is still looking for a long-term solution to make sure Iran’s nuclear program is defanged. He also pointed to “positive momentum” toward ending the war, without offering details.
The AP described the remarks as some of the president’s most definitive comments yet about moving away from his threat to resume strikes on Iran now that the midterm elections have passed.
“The military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing, but we’re locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes,” Trump said.
“Effectively over,” but not actually over
The war is now eight months old, and the fighting has not fully stopped. According to the AP, the U.S. military has carried out limited strikes on Iran, including against its air defenses, at least twice over the past week. On Saturday it fired on and disabled a commercial ship that the U.S. says was trying to breach its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump also said the U.S. has identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, that it would hit if military action resumes. In a brief phone interview with Reuters, he said Qatar and Saudi Arabia would rather see a peaceful solution, but that “we’re ready to go anytime we want” with strikes, while signaling he is content for now with the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
The war voters just punished
The timing is hard to miss. Trump’s Republican Party lost control of both the House and the Senate in last week’s elections, a vote the AP says was shadowed by Americans’ dissatisfaction with the war, which has driven a surge in fuel prices felt across nearly every sector of the global economy.
Democrats, who take control of Congress on Jan. 3, have already said legislation to stop the war with Iran is near the top of their to-do list.
Meanwhile, Trump goes to bat for Hegseth
The remarks came on the same day Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, focused largely on the Iran war, which Massie argues was waged without a declaration of war or congressional authorization. A House vote could come by midweek.
Trump wasn’t having it. According to The Guardian, he said Hegseth “won two wars,” claiming “he won the war in Venezuela” and “he’s winning the war in Iran.” He called Massie “a stone cold loser” and “sick.”
So in one afternoon, the president said the Iran war is effectively over, that his defense secretary is still winning it, and that the military remains “locked and loaded” to start it back up. Hegseth is scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday.
Do you believe the war is really over? Let us know what you think.