One month into the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, President Donald Trump has pointed to a five-part set of objectives for what Washington wants to accomplish before ending the conflict, but an Associated Press review found that several of those aims remain incomplete, have shifted, or are still missing clear endpoints. The administration has said its goals are clear and unchanged while also publicly describing the campaign as moving ahead quickly, even as the war’s toll has tested alliances, strained parts of the global economy, and raised questions about endgame planning.
A key element in the administration’s message has been a suggestion that the operation could soon be “winding down,” despite what critics and observers say is unresolved work tied to missile and drone elimination, naval disruption, and nuclear leverage. “We are very close to meeting the core objectives of Operation Epic Fury, and this military mission continues unabated,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, adding that the operation was “ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally.”
Trump last week outlined five goals for the massive air campaign, after his staff previously laid out four and before the Pentagon and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had generally enumerated three at the war’s start on Feb. 28. The expansion and reshuffling over time has raised scrutiny in Washington over how success is being measured and whether the list reflects what is achievable as strikes take place and Iran continues to respond.
On missiles and drones, one of Trump’s primary objectives was to “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground.” The administration has said that ability has been significantly degraded, and Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that about 90% of Iran’s missiles and launchers have been knocked out and that drones and the factories where drones and missiles are manufactured “are way down.” Even with that assessment, Iran has continued launching missiles and drones, including barrages at Israel amid claims by Trump that negotiations with Iran were underway.
A second objective described by the administration has centered on destroying Iran’s defense industrial base—at times presented as a standalone aim and at other times folded into the broader missile goal. U.S. Central Command has said its targets have included weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities, but Iranian attacks against Gulf neighbors and Israel have continued, according to the Associated Press account. The lack of clarity about when the industrial-base goal would be considered met has complicated comparisons between tactical damage and strategic end results.
Trump’s third stated objective has been to eliminate Iran’s navy and air force. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the U.S. has damaged or destroyed more than 150 Iranian vessels, and the U.S. and Israel quickly established air superiority above Iran. However, after a U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in early March, two other Iranian vessels—the IRIS Bushehr and IRIS Lavan—docked in Sri Lanka and India and sought assistance, and there was no indication from the U.S. that they have since been sunk or captured. Iranian missile attacks also continue to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, even as it remains unclear how much of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard maritime force is still able to operate and whether it has planted mines.
A fourth objective has focused on preventing Iran from getting close to nuclear capability. Trump’s stance has shifted over the past year after he declared in June that the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, only for aides to warn that Iran was weeks away from a bomb around the time of the current operations. Iranian state media said its nuclear facilities were attacked Friday, including a heavy water plant and a yellowcake production plant, and Israel later confirmed it was behind the strikes. Israel had previously announced strikes on other nuclear-related targets, including the killing of a top Iranian nuclear scientist.
One of the most pressing open questions has been whether the U.S. will seize or destroy roughly 970 pounds of enriched uranium that Tehran has, which experts say could be used for a weapon. On Monday, Trump said the U.S. would retrieve the uranium, believed buried deep under a mountain facility, but he indicated retrieval would depend on whether the U.S. strikes a deal with Iran. Without Iran’s permission, experts say seizing the material would be dangerous and would require a sizable deployment of U.S. troops into Iran.
Trump’s fifth objective has been protecting Middle Eastern allies “at the highest level,” including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and others, along with an assertion that the “Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed” by other nations and that “The United States does not!” The U.S. already maintains thousands of troops across the region, but it has not been determined how far Trump is willing to go beyond current posture, or how long the U.S. will keep a role in policing the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has also extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, giving Iran until April 6.
The administration has spoken about regime change since the war began, encouraging Iranians to “take over your government,” after Israel, assisted by the U.S., launched strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and many senior figures. But Trump and his administration have not explicitly listed regime change as an official objective for ending the war, even as they have said they want an end to a repressive theocracy’s 47-year rule. Trump said Thursday that the regime is “largely decimated,” and he told Fox News Channel that “You could really say we have regime change because they have been killed.” At the same time, the U.S. has said it is holding talks with elements of the Iranian government while Iran continues to insist publicly that it is not negotiating with Washington.
Also falling off the official objective list, according to the Associated Press, has been the aim of cutting off support for Iranian proxy groups. Administration officials have offered few updates on how Washington will permanently halt Tehran’s support for militant groups. While the U.S. has struck Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq and Israel has appeared to expand operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the White House said in a statement that ensuring proxies “cannot further destabilize the region” remains a key goal, adding that “proxies are hardly putting up a fight because our United States Military is so strong and lethal.”
Taken together, the AP report depicts a war in which some tactical successes have degraded Iran’s capabilities, yet the administration’s articulated end-state objectives remain partly open, partly evolving, and partly difficult to verify against on-the-ground conditions—raising questions about what the U.S. and its partners will be able to claim once Washington chooses to wind down operations.