WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Wednesday made his case for attacking Iran in his first nationwide address more than a month into the war, insisting the United States was close to victory as his approval rating sinks.
In an evening speech from the White House, Trump broke little new ground on how the war would end and vowed two to three weeks further of "extremely hard" strikes against Iran.
"We are going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close," he said in remarks that largely rehashed his daily streams of social-media postings and rapid media interviews.
But with his approval rating hitting new lows and Americans feeling a pinch from soaring oil prices, Trump offered a retroactive explanation on why he joined Israel in the attack launched on Feb 28.
Trump said that the United States was aiming to crush Iran's military, end the clerical state's support for regional armed groups and prevent it from obtaining a nuclear bomb -- a prospect that the UN nuclear watchdog and many observers say was not imminent.
"I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion," Trump said in a 19-minute televised speech before flags in the White House's Cross Hall.
"In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield -- victories like few people have ever seen before," Trump said.
Israel on the first day of the conflict killed Iran's longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Trump boasted how "their leaders -- most of them" in Iran are dead.
But Iran has also responded by taking control over the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway into the Gulf for one-fifth of the world's oil, which was open before the war.
Gasoline prices in the United States have surged above $4 a gallon (over $1 a liter) for the first time in years, while consumer confidence has weakened, dragging down Trump's already fragile standing on the economy.
Recent polling shows Trump's overall approval rating slipping below 40 percent, with disapproval climbing above the mid-50s, with the war itself deeply unpopular with segments of his own Republican Party.
- Bomb to 'Stone Ages' -
Trump again threatened that if Iran does not reach a negotiated settlement with him, the United States would "hit each and every one of their electric generating plants."
Attacks on civilian energy infrastructure are widely considered to be illegal under the laws of war and could constitute a war crime.
"Over the next two to three weeks, we are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong," Trump said.
Trump said little in his address about actual diplomacy.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump claimed a major breakthrough, saying Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian -- an elected moderate long considered in the shadow of the military and clerical establishment -- was seeking a ceasefire.
This was swiftly denied by Iran's foreign ministry, which also accused Washington of making "maximalist and irrational" demands.
Boasting of American military might, the 79-year-old former real estate developer used one of his favorite analogies: "We have all the cards. They have none."
He offered conciliatory words to Gulf Arab allies that have been hit by Iranian retaliatory fire, saying he would not let them "get hurt or fail."
But he again berated European allies that have balked at supporting his war, on which he did not consult them in advance, as he noted that they are more dependent on Gulf oil.
The countries that "receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage," Trump said, urging them to "build up some delayed courage." - AFP
