WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM/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 primetime address to the nation.
Trump also said he would state in the speech, which is due at 9 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, that he was considering withdrawing the U.S. from the NATO alliance.
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.”
U.S. action has ensured Iran will not have nuclear arms, he 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.”
TRUMP SAYS HE IS CONSIDERING QUITTING NATO
Global oil supplies are expected to be hit twice as hard this month as in March, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, underlining the urgent need for an end to the conflict Trump began with Israel on Feb. 28.
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. There was no immediate Iranian comment.
Two security sources from Pakistan, which is mediating in the conflict, earlier told Reuters Islamabad had proposed a temporary ceasefire to both sides but had not heard back from either.
Trump has signalled he could wind down the war within weeks even without a deal and scaled up threats to pull the United States out of the NATO defence alliance if European states did not help stop Iran threatening the waterway.
In his remarks to Reuters, 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. He said he is “absolutely” considering an attempt to withdraw the United States from NATO.
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.
TRUMP TO ADDRESS NATION ON IRAN
On Tuesday, Trump said he could be leaving Iran within two or three weeks even without a deal, underscoring growing unease about a conflict that has killed thousands, spread across the region and caused unprecedented energy disruption.
International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol said the main issue so far from Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz was the lack of jet fuel and diesel.
“We are seeing that in Asia, but soon, I think, in April or May, it would come to Europe,” Birol told a podcast with Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. The loss of oil in April would be twice that lost in March, he said.
Businesses around the world have been hit by the conflict, with cosmetics and tea among the latest sectors to report pain.
The United States had threatened to intensify operations if Tehran did not accept a 15-point U.S. ceasefire framework demanding that Iran not pursue nuclear weapons or uranium enrichment and fully reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” program there was potential for a “direct meeting at some point” and the United States could “see the finish line”.
“It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming,” Rubio added.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Costas Pitas, Martin Petty, Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Lincoln Feast and Alison Williams, Reuters
