Washington – President Trump delivers an inaugural address to revive the country war in Iran Wednesday night, as he predicted that the operation will continue for several weeks and threatens to withdraw the US from NATO.
Thirty-three days into Operation Epic Fury, the US is already halfway through the four-to-six week timeline the president and his administration had set for a joint US-Israel operation. The president's comments on Tuesday that the US would withdraw from Iran in “two or three weeks” would put the military conflict beyond the maximum six-week mark, despite the president's insistence that the war is ahead of schedule. Mr. Trump said the war could end soon if the two sides reach an agreement.
A White House official told CBS News that the president will reiterate his two-to-three-week timeline and “highlight the success of the United States military in accomplishing all of its stated objectives before the campaign” — including destroying a large part of Iran's navy, ensuring that Iran's regional groups are no longer able to destabilize the region and ensuring that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. The official said the military's performance is meeting or exceeding all its standards so far.
Nevertheless, hundreds of US Special Operations Forces and thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers are now in the Middle East, giving Mr. Trump more options for war on Iran if he chooses to expand the war, sources. he told CBS News earlier this week. If necessary, those forces could take part in operations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, target Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal or seize Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium.
Even if Mr. Trump, insisting that the main goal is to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, told Reuters that he is not interested in Iran's most enriched uranium stored in underground tunnels. If something is enriched, the material can be used to get nuclear weapons, but it may need to hold such things dangerous US occupation. The American intelligence community assessed last year that Iran was not actively trying to build a nuclear bomb.
“That's underground, I don't care about that,” the president said of Iran's enriched uranium, most of which is believed to be buried under debris from last summer's US strikes. “We will always be watching it via satellite.”
Mr. Trump said he would also address NATO allies in his Wednesday night speech, particularly his frustration with what he sees as their failure to help the US open the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of the world's oil. Iran's successful closure of the strait disrupted oil supplies and sent prices skyrocketing.
The president said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from the alliance created after World War II, in response to the allies' decision not to help the US in this crisis.
He told CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang on Tuesday that he is not ready “just yet” to give up his efforts to force Iran to open the road to all shipping traffic. The president said other countries that rely on Middle Eastern oil “should come in and take care of it.”
“Iran has been reduced, but they will have to come in and do their own work,” he said.
At the beginning of the war, Mr. Trump has suggested he may escalate attacks on Iran and target the country's energy infrastructure if it does not allow ships to sail freely through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the war abroad affects prices at home at a time when Americans look at the economy like struggling with the fear that war will make that worse. Average price of a gallon of gas in the US exceeded $4 this week for the first time in almost four years. The price of diesel has also increased, and good prices for consumers are likely to increase with it.
A CBS News poll from last month shows that most Americans are not sold on the Iran war, with 60% disapproving of the US taking military action in Iran and 67% saying they are not willing to pay for more gas during the conflict, even though most Republicans support the war.
Asked about the increase in fuel prices, Mr. Trump said on Tuesday: “All I have to do is leave Iran, and we're going to do that very soon, and they're going to go down.”
