{"id":335142,"date":"2026-03-12T09:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/335142\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T09:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:42:10","slug":"as-trump-boasts-of-success-in-iran-wars-timeline-and-endgame-remain-murky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/335142\/","title":{"rendered":"As Trump boasts of success in Iran, war’s timeline and endgame remain murky"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Facing jittery global markets and drooping domestic poll numbers since the US and Israel launched a war with Iran, US President Donald Trump has cycled from calls for \u201cunconditional surrender\u201d to sounding amenable to an end state in which Iran trades one hardline ayatollah for another.<\/p>\n

Shifting comments from the president and his top aides are adding to the precariousness of the 13-day-old conflict, which began with US-Israeli strikes on the Iranian regime on February 28 and is impacting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic tremors around the globe. With neither side budging, the war is now on an unpredictable path and a credible endgame is unclear.<\/p>\n

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday it was up to Trump \u201cwhether it\u2019s the beginning, the middle or the end\u201d of the war.<\/p>\n

Trump, during the course of one speech at a House Republican gathering Monday, went from calling the war a \u201cshort-term excursion\u201d that could end soon to proclaiming \u201cwe haven\u2019t won enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit, and we\u2019re not finished yet,\u201d Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

The vacillation has fueled criticism from those who say Trump lacks a clear goal. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have a plan,\u201d Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, told reporters. \u201cThey have no timeline. And because of that, they have no exit strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s leaders, for their part, have said they are committed to the fight. On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, \u201cThe operation will continue without any time limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Senator Mark Kelly leaves after a closed door briefing on the Iran war before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the Capitol on March 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

Since ordering the Iran bombardment, Trump has continually shifted his timelines and goals for the war.<\/p>\n

Over the past few days, Trump has called for the \u201cunconditional surrender\u201d of Iran\u2019s leaders, while suggesting he had already succeeded in achieving his objective of decimating Iran\u2019s military.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Trump\u2019s team has sought to soothe anxious Americans that the war will not be long and drawn out even as the president has insisted he has not ruled out the option of using US ground troops.<\/p>\n

The US military says it has effectively destroyed the Iranian navy and made huge strides in defanging Iran\u2019s ability to launch missiles and drones at its neighbors. Yet the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world\u2019s oil passes on a typical day, remains essentially closed to business, and Iranian leaders are unbowed.<\/p>\n

The Revolutionary Guard said Iran would not allow \u201ca single liter of oil\u201d through the vital waterway until the United States stopped its bombing campaign. Ali Larijani, Iran\u2019s top national security official, offered a menacing message on Tuesday after Trump had threatened to attack Iran \u201cTWENTY TIMES HARDER\u201d if Tehran stopped oil flowing through the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sacrificial nation of Iran doesn\u2019t fear your empty threats,\u201d Larijani wrote on X. \u201cEven those bigger than you couldn\u2019t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMembers of Iranian paramilitary forces (Basij) attend an anti-Israeli rally in Tehran, January 10, 2025. (AFP)<\/p>\n

Trump ally Newt Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker, said the administration should have moved on securing the strait on the first day of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can\u2019t keep it open, this war will in fact be an American defeat before very long, because the entire world, including the American people, will react to the price of oil if the strait stays closed very long,\u201d Gingrich said in an appearance on Fox Business.<\/p>\n

Making the case to Americans<\/p>\n

Trump has struggled to make his case to Americans about why preemptive action against Iran was necessary and how it squared with his pledge to keep the United States out of the \u201cforever wars\u201d of the past two decades. Thus far, seven US troops have been killed and about 140 injured in the retaliatory salvos from Iran, which have targeted locations across the region.<\/p>\n

One of several reasons Trump has offered to justify launching the war was that he had a \u201cfeeling\u201d that Iran was getting set to attack the US.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slightly amended that position, telling reporters that the president \u201chad a feeling\u201d that was \u201cbased on fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on March 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n

But Pentagon officials have told congressional staffers in private briefings that the US does not have intelligence indicating that Iran was planning to preemptively attack the US.<\/p>\n

Recent polling shows Trump\u2019s decision to attack Iran has not come with the rallying-around-the-flag effect that has typically accompanied the start of recent US wars.<\/p>\n

About half of voters in Quinnipiac and Fox News polls said the US military action in Iran makes the US \u201cless safe,\u201d while only about 3 in 10 in each poll said it made the country safer. A CNN poll found about half of US adults thought the military action would make Iran \u201cmore of a threat\u201d to the US, while only about 3 in 10 thought it would lessen the danger.<\/p>\n

In that CNN poll, about 6 in 10 US adults said they trusted Trump \u201cnot much\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d to make the right decisions about American use of force in Iran.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMilitary ground personnel walk past Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) next to US Air Force (USAF) B-1 Lancer bombers (behind) on the tarmac at RAF Fairford in south-west England on March 11, 2026. (Henry NICHOLLS \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

European allies are treading carefully after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez faced the wrath of Trump, who deemed them not sufficiently supportive in backing the war.<\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday lashed out again at Spain, which has said it will not allow the US to use jointly operated bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the UN charter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve been very bad \u2014 not good at all,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe may cut off trade with Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has been broadly supportive of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, said on Tuesday that \u201cmore questions arise with every day of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deflecting responsibility for school bombing<\/p>\n

Trump has chosen to deflect responsibility for the bombing of a girl\u2019s school in southern Iran on the first day of the conflict, which killed at least 165 people.<\/p>\n

Trump on Saturday blamed the attack on Iran, saying its security forces are \u201cvery inaccurate\u201d with munitions.<\/p>\n

On Monday, after the investigative group Bellingcat posted verified video<\/a> that showed a US Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a Revolutionary Guard facility near the school, causing the explosion, Trump again insisted it could have been Iran\u2019s fault but said that he would accept whatever a US investigation into the matter might find.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIn this aerial handout picture released by the Iranian Press Center, mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran\u2019s Hormozgan province in Minab on March 3, 2026. (Iranian Press Center \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The president erroneously claimed that Tehran had access to Tomahawks, a US-manufactured weapon system that is only available to the US and a few close allies.<\/p>\n

Asked by a reporter, Leavitt did not directly answer why Trump falsely asserted that Iran has access to the US-made missile.<\/p>\n

Instead, she responded in part that \u201cthe president has a right to share his opinions with the American public\u201d while noting \u201che has said he\u2019ll accept the conclusion of that investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Trump\u2019s claim \u201cis beyond asinine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, he says whatever pops into his head, no matter what the truth is,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cAnd we all know he lies, but on something as formidable as this, it\u2019s appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUS Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters after a weekly luncheon, at the Capitol in Washington, on March 10, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

US Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, was among Trump allies gently making the case that it was important for the administration to clarify what happened to the school.<\/p>\n

Cramer said the military must \u201cdo everything you can to eliminate those mistakes going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you also can\u2019t undo it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Facing jittery global markets and drooping domestic poll numbers since the US and Israel launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-335142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}