US President Donald Trump reached an embarrassing moment in his presidency , as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its sixth month, a milestone for a war that the Republican president repeatedly assured Americans would be a “short trip” that would only last weeks.
The war is not over, even though Trump said that by using bombs and sanctions he had already destroyed the leadership, the military and the economy in Iran.
His administration recently stated that it would shift its focus to increasing economic pressure —rather than military action—in an attempt to eliminate Iran. The new strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct economic business with Tehran.
The shift to using sanctions as a preferred option comes as the administration considers dwindling ammunition stockpiles after months of war, raising concerns that the protracted conflict could undermine military readiness in other parts of the world.
As the conflict escalates, Trump's talk of a quick resolution to end the war appears to be fading. He confirmed this week that he is "in no hurry" to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.
As the conflict escalates, Trump’s talk of a quick resolution to end the war appears to be fading. This week he confirmed that he is “in no hurry” to bring Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues to assert that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is in a desperate situation.
Trump recently told reporters, “They’re not paying their soldiers. They’re in deep trouble. They have very limited capabilities.” He added, “We don’t want to talk to them, we’re not looking to meet with them or anything like that.”
It remains unclear how – or if – Trump will speak on the six-month anniversary of the conflict, which has already cost the United States more than $37.5 billion and damaged his popularity ahead of his party’s crucial November elections .
Trump declares that “mission accomplished,” a phrase that damaged a previous Republican president.
On the surface, the moment appears complicated for the president who coined the term “America First” and who strongly criticized his predecessors in the White House for wasting taxpayers’ money and the lives of American soldiers in conflicts in the Middle East, pledging during his election campaign that he would keep the military out of “endless wars.”
But Trump was furious at suggestions that this war—in which no troops were sent to Iran—could be compared to the years-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that killed more than 7,000 Americans.
His Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush, was ridiculed for a 2003 speech he delivered aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a banner at the White House that read “Mission Accomplished.” The banner prematurely declared victory in the Iraq War, which then dragged on for nearly nine more years. More than two decades later, American troops remain stationed in Iraq.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that the US-Israeli campaign destroyed Iran's naval and air forces. Iranian officials have stated that Tehran suffered direct and indirect damages amounting to $270 billion.
Iran has found a point of strength through its attacks on the vital Strait of Hormuz, where few ships carrying oil and liquefied natural gas risk passing through.
But Iran has found a point of strength in its attacks on the vital Strait of Hormuz, where only a handful of ships carrying oil and liquefied natural gas risk passing through. Trump reiterated on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz is “open,” saying that 24 ships passed through on Wednesday. This is just a fraction of the roughly 130 ships that used to transit the crucial waterway daily before the war began.
Trump says that US efforts to economically strangle Tehran are paying off, with US naval vessels preventing Iranian oil from reaching the market, while a small number of ships carrying oil from other Gulf states are passing through.
Iran has been badly damaged, but it has a history of resilience.
Arathi Krishnan, a geopolitical risk analyst at Raksha Futures Analytics, said there was no doubt that the attacks, coupled with decades of international sanctions imposed on Iran, had worn it down.
But as Trump begins a new chapter in the war, Krishnan says he may have miscalculated in believing that putting more pressure on Iran, which has spent decades adapting to international economic sanctions, would achieve the political outcome he hoped for.
Indeed, the Iranian economy was already suffering from high inflation before the war, according to the International Monetary Fund. Per capita income fell, according to World Bank data.
But Tehran has shown resilience, selling oil at discounted prices and setting up opaque shipping and financial networks, Krishnan said.
Krishnan said, "This administration completely underestimates the Iranian will," adding, "This is nothing new for the Iranian regime."
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