The War That Keeps ‘Ending’
Trump has repeatedly said the Iran war is over. It isn’t.
On Feb. 28, Donald Trump launched a war against Iran — a conflict now mired in stalemate, with oil prices soaring, the U.S. military arsenal depleted, and few of his objectives achieved. Talks with Iran have sputtered. Yet that hasn’t stopped him from repeatedly declaring victory or insisting the war is nearly over.
Below is a complete list of the times Trump has, in public, prematurely declared the war over. Trump first said the war was just about finished ten days into the conflict — and he’s kept up the patter ever since. The conflict is now entering its third month. In theory, under the 1973 War Power Resolution, Trump is required to withdraw U.S. armed forces unless Congress authorizes the military action within 60 days, which is today. (He never asked for that.)
Of course, Trump also gets irritated by questions about how long the war has dragged on. “We were in Vietnam for 18 years. We were in Iraq for many, many years,” he said at a White House news conference on April 23, adding: “I’ve been doing this for six weeks and their military is totally defeated. I don’t want to rush myself.”
Mar. 9 — Trump National Doral Miami: Trump said Iran was “going to be ended soon,” said “I think soon” when asked if it would be over that week, said “We’re getting very close to finishing that too,” and added that “the big risk on that war has been over for three days.”
Mar. 15 — Air Force One gaggle: “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve essentially defeated Iran,” though he also said in the same appearance, “I’m still not declaring it over.”
Mar. 16 — Oval Office executive-order signing: Asked whether the war could wrap up that week, Trump said, “Yeah, sure. We could,” and added, “it’ll be soon, won’t be long” and “when it’s wrapped up, it’ll be wrapped up soon.”
Mar. 16 — Kennedy Center board lunch: Trump said, “We can do that on five minutes’ notice; it will be over,” said “we’ve already taken care of Iran,” and agreed when asked about “declare victory and get out of the Iran war.”
Mar. 17 — Bilateral meeting with Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin: Trump said Iran was “essentially largely over in two or three days” and said the U.S. would be leaving “in the near future” and “pretty much the very near future.”
Mar. 20 — Before departing on Marine One: Responding to a question about saying “the war was militarily won in Iran,” Trump said, “Oh, I think we won,” and added, “From a military standpoint, they’re finished.”
Mar. 23 — Before departing on Air Force One: Trump said that if the parties followed through, “it’ll end that… conflict,” said the sides would meet “very, very soon,” and said, “we’re going to end up with settling this.”
Mar. 24 — Swearing-in of Sen. Markwayne Mullin: Trump said, “I think we’re going to end it” and then said, “we’ve won this — this war has been won.”
Mar. 26 — Cabinet meeting: Trump said the Iranian regime was admitting it had been “decisively defeated” and added, “They’re defeated. They can’t make a comeback.”
Mar. 26 — Fox News call-in to The Five: Trump said, “in a certain sense, we’ve already won” and then more explicitly, “we’ve already won the war. Militarily, we’ve totally won the war.”
Mar. 31 — Executive-order signing on elections: Trump said, “we’ll be doing that very soon,” answered “I think two or three weeks. Yeah” when asked if the U.S. would be gone or done with the war in two weeks, and added, “in a fairly short period of time, we’ll be finished.”
Apr. 1 — Primetime address on Iran: Trump said U.S. objectives were “nearing completion,” said “we are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close,” said America was “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” and said the country was “on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat.” He also said America “is winning and now winning bigger than ever before.”
Apr. 6 — White House press conference: A reporter said Trump’s message had shifted to “the war is coming to an end,” and Trump replied, “Sure.” In the same appearance, he said, “We’re the winner. We won, OK? They are militarily defeated.”
April 7 — Ceasefire declared.
Apr. 10 — Before departing on Air Force One: Trump said Iran was “militarily defeated,” said “I think it’s gonna go pretty quickly,” and added that if it did not, “we’ll be able to finish it off.”
Apr. 11 — Before departing on Marine One: Trump said, “we win regardless… because we’ve won,” and then said, “we win, no matter what… they’re all defeated.”
Apr. 20 — Interview with John Fredericks: Trump said, “we’ve already won militarily.”
Apr. 23 — Health Care Affordability event: Trump said “their military is totally defeated” and “in four weeks, we have totally defeated their military.”
Apr. 26 — Fox interview with Jacqui Heinrich: Trump said “it’ll come to an end very soon” and “we’re going to be very victorious.”
Apr. 29 — Meeting with Artemis II astronauts: Trump said, “militarily, we’ve wiped them out. They have no military left.”
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is preparing to leave the region, making it hard for Trump to launch attacks in the near future. (Two aircraft carriers will remain.) The stalemate will doubtless continue — and Trump will keep proclaiming victory.
Note: research into Trump’s rhetoric was assisted by the “Ask Trump” collection of Sourcebase, where I am chief content officer. Readers are invited to get a free account and explore our extensive collections of documents.
There simply aren't enough "pinocchios" to keep up.
In other words, not much point taking ANYTHING he says seriously. 🙄