Iran battle: What Trump has mentioned about when it might finish, briefly defined

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Welcome to The Logoff: When will Donald Trump’s battle with Iran finish?

What’s taking place? The US and Israel have now spent 11 days hanging targets in Iran, killing the nation’s supreme chief and destroying Iranian missile launchers and naval belongings. Nevertheless it’s not clear the place they go from right here, and also you’ll get completely different solutions relying on who you ask.

Trump, on Monday : “I feel the battle could be very full, just about.”

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, today : “When [Trump] determines the army goals have been met…and that Iran is able of full and unconditional give up.”

US particular envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff, additionally today : “I don’t know.”

What are the choices, actually? As my colleague Zack Beauchamp has reported , “unconditional give up” — and the extra US-friendly management Trump has mentioned he needs — isn’t doubtless underneath present situations. As a substitute, the most certainly outcomes are a negotiated settlement, or Trump merely deciding to say victory and go house.

Why does this matter? This isn't a brand new downside for the Trump administration, which has been unable to explain why it took the US to battle. Nevertheless it’s solely going to get extra acute because the battle drags on and fuel — adopted by just about everything else — will get costlier. US casualties are additionally mounting: Eight service members have died, and about 140 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon .

Within the meantime, the US and Israel are bombarding Tehran, a metropolis of greater than 9 million folks. Israeli strikes on oil amenities over the weekend have induced dangerous acid rain to fall from the skies, and strikes have additionally induced widespread energy outages. On Tuesday, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced “our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”

“In the event that they hold hitting Tehran like this for an additional 10 days,” one resident told the New York Times , “nothing will stay of Tehran.”

And with that, it’s time to log out…

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