WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV/CAIRO--The United States will end its war on Iran fairly soon and could return for "spot hits" if needed, President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to make a prime-time address to the nation.
Trump also said he would announce in the speech, which was slated for 9 p.m. EDT, that he was considering withdrawing the U.S. from the NATO alliance over what he sees as its failure to support the U.S. in the war.
Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East since February 28, when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran, triggering Iranian attacks on Israel, U.S. bases and the Gulf states, while opening a new front in Lebanon.Trump, facing a war-wary American public, was expected to say in his speech that the U.S. military has accomplished its wartime goals, according to a White House official.
Even so, prospects for a near-term end to the fighting appeared elusive. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran is demanding a guaranteed ceasefire to halt its attacks, adding that no talks have taken place through intermediaries on a temporary truce. The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed in recent days that Iran is not currently willing to engage in substantial negotiations to end the war.
The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and International Energy Agency on Wednesday warned the war was having "substantial, global and highly asymmetric" effects and said they would coordinate their response, including through potential financial support to those countries hit hardest.
Asked when the United States would consider the Iran war over, Trump said: "I can't tell you exactly ... we're going to be out pretty quickly."
He was expected to reiterate a two-to-three-week timetable for ending the war in Iran during the address, a White House official later said.U.S. action had ensured Iran would not have nuclear arms, Trump said: "They won't have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I'll leave, and I'll take everybody with me, and if we have to we'll come back to do spot hits."
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a letter addressed to the American people that his country harbors no enmity towards ordinary Americans, Press TV reported on Wednesday.
Quitting NATO?
Global oil supplies were expected to be hit twice as hard this month as in March, the IEA said on Wednesday, underlining the urgent need for an end to the conflict.
Trump said separately on social media that Iran had asked for a ceasefire but that he would not consider it until Tehran ceased blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route. Iran denied making any such request.
Two security sources from Pakistan, which is mediating in the conflict, told Reuters that Islamabad had proposed a temporary ceasefire but had not heard back from either side.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance communicated with intermediaries from Pakistan about the Iran conflict as recently as Tuesday, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, making clear that Trump was open to a ceasefire as long as certain U.S. demands were met, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the source said.
Trump had suggested on Tuesday he could wind down the war in two to three weeks even without a deal, while scaling up threats to pull the U.S. out of the NATO defence alliance if European states did not help stop Iran from blocking the waterway.In his remarks to Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said he would express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance's lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran.
European states took pains to appear unruffled, and France's junior army minister Alice Rufo said operations by NATO in the Strait of Hormuz would be a breach of international law.
Jet Fuel Shortage
IEA head Fatih Birol said Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz had already limited supplies of jet fuel and diesel to Asia and would hit Europe in April or May.
The head of European budget airline Ryanair said jet fuel supply to Europe could be disrupted from June if the conflict did not end in the next month, potentially forcing the airline and rivals to consider cancelling summer flights.
Businesses around the world are struggling, with cosmetics and tea among the latest sectors to report difficulties. However, global stocks rallied and oil prices fell almost 3% as hopes of a de-escalation fuelled the biggest rebound in regional equities in more than three years.
Higher fuel prices are already weighing on U.S. household finances before the November midterm elections, with two-thirds of Americans believing the U.S. should work to exit the Iran war quickly, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
Tanker Hit
Drones hit fuel tanks at Kuwait's international airport, causing a big blaze, and authorities in Bahrain reported a fire at an undisclosed company facility from an Iranian attack.
Qatar said an oil tanker leased to state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile in Qatari waters, but that there were no injuries or environmental damage.
An overnight strike hit Shahid Haghani Port, Iran's largest passenger terminal, a deputy regional governor told state media, calling it a "criminal" attack on civilian infrastructure.Iran has fired repeatedly on Gulf countries, some home to U.S. bases, and is using the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, as leverage.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have also threatened to hit U.S. companies in the region including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing, from 8 p.m. Tehran time on Wednesday. Trump has said he was not concerned.
Latest Strikes
In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, evening air raid sirens and air defence systems were repeatedly triggered as Iran fired a volley of missiles around an hour before the start of Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom.
Israel’s fire and rescue service said there had been multiple “impacts” in the greater Tel Aviv area. It was not immediately clear if the impacts were caused by missile strikes or debris from missile interceptions.
Shortly after the latest Iranian attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that the Air Force was carrying out strikes on dozens of targets across Tehran.
