US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that American forces will leave Iran within two to three weeks, signalling an end to ongoing attacks against the country.
“All I have to do is leave Iran, and we’ll be doing that very soon,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“We’ll be leaving very soon,” he said, adding that it will happen in “maybe two weeks, maybe three.”
“And if France or some other country wants to get oil or gas, they’ll go up through the Strait (of Hormuz),” he said. “They’ll be able to fend for themselves. I think it’ll be very safe, actually, but we have nothing to do with that.”
The US and Israel have been carrying out airstrikes on Iran since February 28, killing more than 1 340 people so far, according to Iranian authorities.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targetting Israel along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets.
At least 13 US service members have been killed since the war began, according to official US figures, and the conflict has driven up energy prices and affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint, with a significant portion of global oil shipments passing through it.
Advisors to Trump have for some time being pushing for the US to exit the conflict claiming victory as its objectives have been achieved. Trump’s latest comments suggest that he has accepted that strategy to get out of a war which us likely to last for many more years.
Israel, meanwhile, has argued that it will continue its war with Iran even if the US withdraws as its objectives have not been met. Israel is also trying to repeat its Gaza strategy in Lebanon, and its continuing with ethnic-cleansing despite wide-spread condemnation about their activities.
Trump claimed the administration’s objective of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon has already been achieved, saying: “They will have no nuclear weapon. And that goal has been attained.”
He also argued that US strikes had severely degraded Iran’s military capabilities, asserting it could take “15 to 20 years” for Tehran to rebuild.
“If they come to the table, that’ll be good. But it doesn’t matter whether they come or not, we’ve set them back,” he said.
Trump also claimed there is a “regime change” in Iran already, noting the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We’ve knocked out one regime, then we knocked out the second regime. Now we have a group of people that are very different,” he said.
“They’re much more reasonable, I think, much less radicalised,” he added. – AA