Trump announces he is considering scaling military operations in Iran after ruling out a ceasefire
US President Donald Trump announced for the first time Friday that his country was considering a gradual scaling of its operations against Iran, after ruling out a ceasefire.
“We’re getting closer to achieving our goals as we consider gradually scaling back our major military efforts in the Middle East against the Iranian terrorist regime,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
On the other hand, US media reported on Friday that the United States is in the process of deploying additional US Marines to the Middle East, in what could be an indication of an imminent ground operation.
The reports came as Axios reported that the Trump administration is considering taking control of Kharg Island, Iran’s strategy to pressure the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, in a mission that could be assigned to the Marines.
Hours earlier, the US president ruled out reaching a ceasefire with Iran, in the three-week war.
“I don’t want a ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House before heading to Florida, saying there was no cease-fire when you’re literally in the process of exterminating the other side.
He stressed that the goal of the United States and Israel is victory, and said of Iran, “We’re hitting them very hard”.
During a ceremony at the White House, the US president praised the successes of the military operation against Iran, which is entering its fourth week.
“Things are going very well in Iran,” he said, surrounded by students at the naval college.
“No force on earth can defeat the US Navy or the US military,” he said, stressing that there is no real competition with Iran.
The US president has recently made many contradictory statements about the possible duration of the war, sometimes promising a very close end, and at other times arguing that the US military is in no hurry to end the war.
Trump’s positions have also recently oscillated between stressing that Washington doesn’t need help to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil tankers, to harshly criticizing countries that have not provided any support in this regard.
After Trump announced Tuesday that the United States need help in the Strait of Hormuz, he wrote on Truth Social on Friday: “Other countries that use the Strait of Hormuz will have to secure and monitor it, if necessary, the United States doesn’t”.
“We’ll help these countries in their efforts in Hormuz if they ask for it,” he said.
“It will be an easy military operation for them,” he said, adding that the Iranian threat would have been removed.
Trump has called US NATO allies cowards for refusing to respond to his request for military assistance to secure the strait.
“NATO without the United States is a paper tiger,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He noted that US allies don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the main reason for the rise in oil prices.
It’s easy for them to do it, with minimal risk,” he added, adding, “Cowards, and we won’t forget!”
Trump has long questioned the viability of the Western military alliance and has been sharply criticized recently.
On Thursday, six major international powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, said they were ready to contribute in time to efforts to secure navigation in the strategic strait of the world’s oil and gas supplies where Iran has disrupted navigation since the war began.
None of the countries Trump invited for help were consulted before the US-Israeli military operation.
Iran is effectively paralyzing commercial shipping through this strategic sea corridor, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass in peacetime.
Global oil prices have soared as a result of the war that broke out on February 28, when the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, prompting Tehran to respond with strikes across the Gulf.
