New Delhi: In a fresh message to Americans and the world Wednesday night, US President Donald Trump sent mixed signals on the war with Iran, stating that it could end in “two to three weeks” while also threatening to escalate and send the country back into the “stone age”.
“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly. Very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal,” Trump said in his 19-minute address.
“We never said regime change. But regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ death. They’re all dead. The new group is less radical and much more reasonable. Yet, if during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eye on key targets. If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electricity-generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously.”
Trump further said the US had not hit Iran’s oil production, but that “we could hit it, and it would be gone. There’s not a thing they could do about it”. He also reiterated other statements made over the last few weeks.
Trump’s claim of needing a deal to end the war comes a day after the US president in statements to the press suggested he did not need Iran to reach a deal to end the conflict.
Also, while he claimed that the US had succeeded in all of its objectives, and regime change was not one of them, in the early days of the conflict last month Trump had called on Iranians to seize the government when the US is “finished” with its military actions against Tehran.
The US-Israeli offensive was launched against Iran on 28 February.
“We are systematically dismantling the regime’s ability to threaten America or project power outside of their borders. That means eliminating Iran’s navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their air force and their missile programme at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defence industrial base. We’ve done all of it. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten,” Trump said in the address.
Hours before his address, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated in an open letter Tehran’s willingness to negotiate with the US, asking the American people “which interests are being served by war?”
To the people of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/3uAL4FZgY7
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) April 1, 2026
Trump on opening of Strait of Hormuz
The US president said in his address that the “core strategic objectives” of the war are “nearing completion”, and went on to frame the main issue in the conflict—opening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz—as one that should be supported by other countries as the US “imports almost no oil” through this international waterway.
The effective closure of the Strait by Iran has led to spike in oil prices around the world, while crippling gas exports. Tehran has also taken aim at energy infrastructure across the Gulf, following Israeli strikes at its own natural gas facilities in South Pars a couple of weeks ago. Iran’s retaliation wiped out roughly 17% of Qatar’s export capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“There’s no country like us anywhere in the world, and we’re in great shape for the future. The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait, and won’t be taking any in the future. We don’t need it. We haven’t needed it, and we don’t need it. We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated, both militarily and economically and every other way,” Trump said.
“And the countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on. So, to those countries that can’t get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves.”
Trump has been threatening to wipe out Iran’s energy infrastructure unless a deal is made allowing energy to flow through the Strait. He made the ultimatum at the start of last week, which was extended to 6 April.
In his address, he urged the countries needing oil through the Strait of Hormuz to “build up some delayed courage” and to go and “take it, protect it and use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated”.
Pointing out that the Strait would “naturally” open once the war ended, he said that the high energy prices would also fall.
For Trump, global oil prices are a domestic concern. Across the US, the average price of a gallon of gasoline is $4. Trump had run a campaign promising lower gasoline prices and previously criticised his predecessor Joe Biden for “failure” on the economic front.
The US is heading to mid-terms later this year, and gasoline prices may become a key issue for the Trump administration.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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