Trump stated that withdrawing American forces remained an option but that any such withdrawal depended on firm assurances that Iran would be permanently barred from developing nuclear weapons, adding that the seven-month conflict appeared to be nearing a conclusion — though he noted that a departure at that point was possible only if guarantees against future Iranian nuclear capability were in place.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews after his return from a Tennessee campaign rally, Trump stated that the outcome he described was one he expected to obtain. Asked by a reporter why no victory declaration had been made — despite his claim that American military action had brought Iran's nuclear programme to a halt — Trump said that keeping the outcome in place was the overriding concern, and that preventing any resurgence of the threat was an obligation the United States had to meet.
Trump stated a preference against completing the process within a two-year timeframe. A guarantee against any future possession of such capability, he stated, was the minimum condition he would accept.
Those remarks came after a stop in Clarksville, Tennessee, where Trump described the military operation against Iran as a success of his presidency and made reference to American service members who died during the fighting. Speaking at a rally, Trump told those gathered that the United States had been involved in the conflict for approximately seven months, drawing a comparison with the country's military engagements in Vietnam and Afghanistan, before stating that 18 American personnel had died and others had been wounded, and asserting that the operation had prevented Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The president spoke of visiting families of fallen service members at Dover Air Force Base, calling those meetings among the heaviest duties the office carries, and went on to express his personal view that measures taken had permanently removed the prospect of a nuclear weapon being acquired. The figure he cited for losses stood at 18.
Trump additionally asserted that U.S. military strikes had left Iran's conventional armed forces severely degraded, with losses spanning its naval fleet, air power, radar networks, and weapons production facilities. The president expressed a view that the conflict would draw to a close in the near term, adding that an end to the fighting would ease pressure on global energy markets.
Oil prices are forecast to fall sharply in the period ahead. Trump set before his audience a promise of better days ahead in his address.
Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons formed one strand of the discussion, while the other centred on locking in assurances solid enough to allow the military campaign to wind down without leaving open the possibility of resuming it later.
