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President Donald Trump said in a prime-time address Wednesday that U.S. forces would soon “finish the job” in Iran, framing the campaign as nearing “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” and promising the next phase would be delivered quickly. He delivered the remarks to a broad audience in his first national address since the conflict began more than a month earlier, describing U.S. operations as bringing Washington’s objectives to a point he said had been met or exceeded.
Trump said the United States would keep up pressure on Iran in the short term, telling viewers, “We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.” He also said, “We’re going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close,” while acknowledging American service members who had been killed.
The speech, which lasted just under 20 minutes, provided few new details and included repeated points Trump had made in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press. The AP reported that the address appeared unlikely to change public sentiment at a time when polling indicates many Americans believe the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran, and when gas and oil prices remain high.
Trump did not address a possible deployment of U.S. ground troops into Iran in his remarks. He also did not reference NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance he has criticized for not doing more to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s action has affected energy prices. The AP reported that he also did not discuss negotiations with Iran or mention his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway or face severe retaliation from the United States.
In addition to military claims, Trump sought to broaden the pitch on energy security, encouraging countries reliant on oil through the Strait of Hormuz to act. He told them to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it,” describing his view of which countries could step in to reopen the strait.
Trump also described the war’s timeline and U.S. role in past conflicts, saying the Iran war had lasted “just 32 days” as of the address and citing World War I and World War II durations. He said “in these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield,” and argued that the intensity of U.S. action meant “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat,” even as Iran continued attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors early Thursday, the AP said.
In remarks that touched on Iran’s nuclear program, Trump appeared to suggest that he had ruled out entering Iran to seize enriched uranium. He said, “The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the nuclear dust,” and said the sites were under “intense satellite surveillance and control,” adding: “If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we’ll hit them with missiles very hard again.”
The AP also reported that Trump had previously said earlier Wednesday at a White House Easter lunch, in remarks that were not permitted for media viewing, “We could just take their oil,” while indicating he was uncertain whether Americans would have the patience for that approach. In that lunch setting, Trump also repeated complaints about NATO allies and suggested that South Korea, Japan, and China could do more to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the AP said.
Separately, hours before the prime-time address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted an English letter on X appealing to U.S. citizens and arguing that Iran had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path, according to the Associated Press. On Wednesday morning, the AP reported that Trump wrote on social media about Iran’s “New Regime President” wanting a ceasefire, and that it was unclear who he was referring to because Iran still has the same president; Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the claim was “false and baseless,” according to Iranian state television as cited by the AP.