President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the Iran war from the White House on Wednesday, saying Iran is the “most violent and thuggish regime on Earth." He said that the US military was nearing completion of its mission, and reinforced his threats to bomb the Islamic Republic back to the Stone Age.
Trump’s 19-minute speech was delivered against a backdrop of high global oil prices, as well as his own low approval ratings.
He maintained that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and that the US would never let that happen. Trump said that Iran’s ballistic missile capacity was greatly reduced and painted Iran’s threats generally as having been wiped away.
However, he neither backed up that assumption nor explained how the operation had headed off Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Trump failed to discuss diplomatic efforts to work toward a ceasefire, after previously insisting that positive talks with Iran were underway.
Trump is approaching the 60-day mark when he must seek approval from Congress under the War Powers Act for any military operations to continue. He did not mention NATO at all in his address, instead calling on countries that depend on global oil shipments to take the lead in protecting the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over.
