Washington– President Donald Trump has set five goals that the United States wants to achieve before ending its war with Iran. And now, a month into the conflict, he has done just that He suggested that the United States may soon “back down.” process, although some of its main objectives remain undefined or unachieved.
Trump last week I set five goals For a large-scale air campaign. This is higher than the four his staff has identified since the war began on February 28 (and higher than the three cited by the Pentagon and Secretary of State Marco Rubio). Although the Trump administration has said its goals are clear and unchangeable, the list of priorities has expanded and changed as the war has affected the global economy, tested alliances and raised unanswered questions about the planning, justification and consequences of the conflict.
By most reports, strikes by the United States and Israel have dramatically degraded Iran’s military capabilities and killed dozens of senior commanders. But these tactical successes do not necessarily translate into achieving all of the president’s strategic goals.
Some of its objectives will be difficult to achieve, if the United States withdraws with incomplete objectives and Iranian paramilitary forces Islamic Revolutionary Guard In power, Trump may face political repercussions at home and global repercussions over what was accomplished in his decision to launch a war of choice that turned the Middle East upside down and roiled the global economy.
Trump and the White House insisted that the operation was going well and on track to achieve its goals. “We are very close to achieving the core objectives of Operation Epic Fury, and this military mission continues unabated,” press secretary Carolyn Leavitt told reporters this week, saying the operation was “ahead of schedule and performing exceptionally.”
Here’s a look at the goals Trump set and where they’ve reached:
One of the main goals the president set with Iran was to “destroy its missiles and destroy its missile industry on the ground.”
Management says capacity has deteriorated significantly. But Iran is still launching missiles and drones, including a A series of missiles In Israel, where Trump claimed that negotiations with Iran are underway.
Trump said Thursday at the White House that about 90% of Iran’s missiles and launchers have been destroyed, and that the drones and factories where the drones and missiles are made are “down.”
Before last week, the president and his administration sometimes listed this as a standalone goal, describing it as the goal of “destroying their missile industry.” Other times, this fell off the list. The Pentagon has generally included this as the first goal of destroying Iran’s missile capability.
US Central Command said its targets for strikes in Iran include weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities. But Iranian attacks against its Gulf neighbors and Israel continue.
The United States and Israel quickly established air superiority in the skies over Iran, flying largely unchallenged. The United States has damaged or destroyed more than 150 Iranian ships, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday.
After a US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in early March, two other Iranian ships – the Iris Bushehr and the Iris Laffan – were torpedoed. Docked in Sri Lanka India requested assistance from both countries. There has been no indication from the United States that they were sunk or captured since then.
The IRGC has its own naval forces that also rely on small ships to conduct swarm attacks and drop mines. It is unclear how much of that force remains or whether any mines have been planted. But Iranian missiles continue to disrupt navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump achieved a remarkable turnaround over the past year after declaring that the United States had “wiped out” Iran’s nuclear program In Juneonly for his aides to warn that Iran was only weeks away from building the bomb to justify current operations.
Iranian official media said Nuclear facilities were attacked on Friday. A heavy water factory and a yellow cake production factory were targeted, and Israel later confirmed that it was behind the attacks.
Israel has previously announced strikes on other nuclear-related targets, including the killing of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist.
One of the most pressing questions in the war is whether Trump will pursue it Capture or destroy on 970 pounds of enriched uranium Which Tehran possesses and can be used to make weapons.
Trump said for the first time on Monday that the United States would recover uranium, which is believed to be buried deep beneath a mountainous facility. But he indicated that this would happen if the United States concluded some kind of deal with Iran to restore it. Experts say that without permission from Iran, seizing it would be a dangerous mission, and would require a major deployment of US forces to the country.
In a recent post on social media, Trump added a fifth goal for the United States: “Protecting our allies in the Middle East, at the highest level, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others. The Strait of Hormuz must be guarded and monitored, as necessary, by other countries that use it, but the United States does not do that!”
The United States already maintains thousands of troops at bases and other facilities in the region. It is not clear how far Trump is willing to go to protect his allies in the Middle East from threats, and Iran is still capable of attacking those countries. It is also not clear how far the United States is willing to go to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Trump has hesitated about whether the United States needs to play a policing role. Iran’s deadline to reopen its air crossing was again extended Strait of Hormuz Or face attacks on its power plants, Now give them until April 6th.
Trump has talked about regime change since the beginning of the war, encouraging the Iranian people to “take over their government” after Israel, with US help, launched strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and much of its leaders.
However, Trump and his administration have never explicitly declared regime change as a goal in Iran, although they have made clear that they want to end the oppressive 47-year rule of the theocracy.
Trump said Thursday at the White House that the system was “pretty much destroyed.”
“You can really say we changed the regime because they were killed,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
Now the United States claims to be in talks with elements of the Iranian government itself, as it looks to bring a quick end to the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to maritime traffic. However, Iran continues to publicly insist that it is not negotiating with the White House.
It appears that Trump’s initial hopes for the Iranian people will not be fulfilled.
Trump administration officials have provided few updates on that goal, which the president has described as ensuring “terrorist proxies in the region cannot destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces” and “ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, finance, and direct terrorist armies beyond its borders.”
While the United States has struck Iranian-allied militias in Iraq, and Israel appears to be expanding operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the administration has not provided details on how to permanently halt Tehran’s support for militant groups.
The White House said in a statement that ensuring Iran’s proxy groups cannot further destabilize the region remains a key goal and that “proxies are barely putting up a fight because our U.S. military is so powerful and lethal.”
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Associated Press writer Konstantin Torobin contributed to this report.