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Trump signals US exit from Iran war in 2-3 weeks, says nuclear goal achieved

New Delhi: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that American forces could withdraw from the ongoing war in Iran within two to three weeks, declaring that the primary objective of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons had been met. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump linked the potential withdrawal to efforts to bring down sharply rising U.S. gasoline prices. "All I have to do is leave Iran. We will be doing that very soon," he said. "We knocked out one regime, and then we knocked out the second regime. Now we have a group of reasonable people. We achieved regime change. We have nothing to do with what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. We will be leaving very soon." Trump clarified that regime change was not an original goal of the military campaign. "Regime change was not one of the things I had as a goal. I had one goal: They will have no nuclear weapon. And that goal has been attained. They will not have nuclear weapons. Their leaders are all gone. That is why we have regime change. We have nice new leaders." Addressing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil shipments that has become a flashpoint in the conflict, Trump said responsibility for keeping the passage open should rest with the countries that rely on it, rather than with the United States. "There's no reason for us to do this," he said. He also expressed frustration with allies unwilling to do more to support the U.S. war effort, telling them to "go get your own oil." Trump said the U.S. would leave once it determined that Iran had been sufficiently degraded. "When we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages and they won't be able to develop a nuclear weapon, then we will leave," he said. "Iran does not have to make a deal. Whether we have a deal or not is irrelevant." He predicted the U.S. would be done with the conflict "within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. But we want to knock out every single thing they have." Trump said he might strike a deal with Iran before then, but added, "If not, we'll hit some bridges, got a couple of nice bridges in mind. But if they come to the table, that'll be good." The comments came as Trump has recently oscillated between insisting there has been progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war. Shortly afterward, the White House announced that Trump would deliver an "Address to the Nation" at 9 p.m. EDT on Wednesday to provide "an important update on Iran." U.S. gasoline prices rose above an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continued to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts said those higher fuel costs would likely spill over into grocery prices as transportation and packaging costs rise. Despite Trump's signals of an imminent exit, the conflict continued. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, hitting Tehran early on Tuesday. Iran has been launching fewer missiles than at the start of the war, but it continues to deploy more low-flying drones that are harder to intercept. The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people in the region, while millions have been displaced in Lebanon and Iran. In Iraq, a U.S. journalist was kidnapped, two officials in the country said on Tuesday. It was not clear whether the kidnapping was related to the war. Israel's military said early on Wednesday that it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander and another senior leader in two separate strikes in the Beirut area. Two people were killed and three injured early on Wednesday when a strike hit a car in the Khaldeh area south of the capital, Lebanon's health ministry said. More people were injured when strikes hit another part of the city, according to a local hospital. The state-run National News Agency said a car was hit on a highway in the Khaldeh area near Beirut airport, south of the Lebanese capital. Other strikes took place in the city's Jnah neighbourhood, an area with a number of home goods stores. Footage from the scene showed several cars on fire. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted or how many casualties there were. The Pentagon said 348 U.S. troops had been wounded in the Iran war, according to Capt Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for U.S. Central Command. Six service members were seriously wounded. Central Command had said last Friday in an earlier update that 303 troops had been wounded, 10 of them seriously. It was not clear why the tally of serious injuries had since been revised downward. Hawkins said that, of the total number wounded so far, 315 service members had returned to duty. It was not clear whether the official U.S. military count included those injured in multiple attacks on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan air base last week. Since the Iran war began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed in combat. Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa was speaking at an event hosted by Chatham House during a visit to London on Tuesday. "Certainly, unless it is directly targeted by any party, Syria will stay out of this conflict," he said in response to a question about the ongoing Iran war. "Fourteen years of war are enough for Syria, during which we have paid a very high price. We are not ready to go through a new experience. Anyone who has been through war knows the value of peace." Syria, which is trying to recover from its own long civil war, is one of the few countries in the region that has managed to remain on the sidelines of the conflict.

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