President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US is getting “very close” to achieving its objectives in Iran, but warned that the next two weeks will include intense military activity.
“We are on track to meet all of America’s military objectives very quickly,” the president said in his first primetime address since the war in Iran began. “We’re going to hit them very hard over the next two to three weeks.”
The president also called on countries that receive their oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked, to join in ensuring its reopening.
Trump said, “The United States imports almost no oil through the Strait of Hormuz and will not in the future. We don’t need it. We don’t need it, and we don’t need it.” “We will be helpful, but they must take the lead in protecting the oil on which they are so dependent.”
While Trump’s comments were clearly aimed at European and Asian countries, the president has recently taken a more balanced tone on social media, where he has criticized NATO allies for not supporting America’s efforts in Iran.
The speech comes a month after Trump’s stated timeline of a four- to six-week war. Trump issued his warning about the next two to three weeks, making a brief reference to “discussions continuing” with Iran. It was clearly another pledge that the US wanted to end the war one way or another, as some in its inner circle had promised that the war would be short.
Trump said there will be no consideration of the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, whose blockade is already causing prices for energy and other products to rise globally. He predicted that “the strait will naturally open” when the war ends due to Iran’s need to rebuild its economy.
As part of his justification for the war, he presented Iran as an existential threat to America and the “free world.” He reiterated his previous call that Iran should never be able to possess nuclear weapons, calling the Iranian regime “terrorist” and saying that the acquisition of nuclear weapons “would be an intolerable threat.”
Speaking in the Cross Hall of the White House, he said, “We took them all out so that no one could really dare to stop them. And they made a run for a nuclear bomb, a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapon like no one had ever seen before. They were right on the doorstep.”
He took pains repeatedly to underline the idea that he had always been clear about the objectives of the war, including in a White House fact sheet issued with his talks titled “President Trump’s clear and unchanging objective is to deliver a decisive breakthrough against the Iranian regime. ","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/04/President-trumps-clear-and-unchanging-objectives-drive-decidive-success-against-iranian-regime/","_Identification": :"0000019d-4c4f-d763-a5dd-5ecffea10004","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-4c4f-d763-a5dd-5ecffea10005","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>President Trump’s clear and unchanging objective is to deliver a decisive breakthrough against the Iranian regime. But Trump has torn between justifications — including regime change — presented in his inaugural Feb. 28 address. Iran’s desire for “freedom for the people” ","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/28/trump-iran-war-regime-change-freedom/","_Identification": :"0000019d-4c4f-d763-a5dd-5ecffea10006","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-4c4f-d763-a5dd-5ecffea10007","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Iran’s desire for “freedom for the people” – Destroying multiple military targets as well as the country’s nuclear capabilities.
On Wednesday night, Trump insisted that he had never called for “regime change.”
He said, “We never said regime change, but regime change has happened because of the death of all their original leaders. They are all dead. The new group is less radical and more rational.”
US strikes over the past month resulted in the decapitation of Iran’s top leadership and severe damage to Tehran’s military and nuclear sites. But it has so far killed at least 13 US troops and injured hundreds of others, as well as sent oil prices soaring, prompting Iran to retaliate against neighboring US allies and prompting Iran to tighten control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump addressed some domestic concerns about rising gasoline prices in his speech, blaming Iran for blocking the strait and calling the spike — now at $4 a gallon — a “short-term increase.”
As Trump spoke, the price of global benchmark Brent crude rose from $100 to $105 as the market reacted to his speech, which showed no plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the near future.
And he said the war is part of a net positive in future generations of Americans, adding, “It’s a true investment in the future of your children and your grandchildren.”
He said, “Tonight, every American can look forward to the day when we are finally free from the evil of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail because of the actions we have taken. We are on the verge of ending Iran’s catastrophic threat to America and the world.”
The immediate reaction to Trump’s speech was largely divided along party lines. Senator Mark Warner (R-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that despite the beheading attack on Iran’s leadership, “there is no evidence that it is any better – and in many ways it may even be worse.”
Warner said, “There is still no clear plan to secure Iran’s nuclear material, its ballistic missile capabilities remain a threat and the Strait of Hormuz is closed. At the same time, the administration is relaxing oil sanctions in a way that is sending billions of dollars back to the same regime that we are facing.”
Danny Citrinowicz, a former top Iran researcher for the Israel Defense Forces, said reopening Hormuz to other countries would only empower Iran. It allows Iran to impose tolls on energy, which will only increase its influence and power in the region, he said. He said this would make it difficult for countries to impose or maintain sanctions on Iran and would also force Europe and Asia to negotiate with them.
“For the Iranians, this is a gold mine they’re sitting on,” Citrinowicz said. “For the Gulf countries, it’s going to be very, very bad, because they will be extremely dependent on Iran for everything because Iran will hold them hostage.”
Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish think tank that supports Trump’s operation in Iran, said Trump’s message was “unmistakable.”
“The next phase appears to be aimed not only at military targets but also at the economic infrastructure that finances repression, terrorism and regional aggression. Under existing sanctions, Tehran can sell oil, but it cannot repatriate funds to Iran, and can only buy goods from China. Without those funds, it cannot rebuild its shattered capabilities,” he said in a statement.
Scott Waldman and Nahal Tousi contributed to this report.
