President Donald Trump used a familiar phrase during his Wednesday night address on the state of the Iran war.
He said, yes, the conflict is decreasing. But instead of any specific deadline, the President gave a vague assurance that the US would soon achieve its goals.
“We are on track to meet all of America’s military objectives very quickly,” he said in a speech that came a month after the White House launched a joint campaign against Tehran in February. “We’re going to hit them very hard over the next two to three weeks.”
This is not the first time the President has suggested that deadline. In fact, when he was asked about his executive objectives countless times since returning to the White House last January — and even during his first term in office, he offered a two-week timeline.
Trump has repeatedly avoided discussing another major foreign policy objective of his second administration: ending the years-long Russia-Ukraine war. Last spring, Trump spent several months telling reporters that he would understand Russian President Vladimir Putin’s true intentions for conflict “in about two weeks.”
“I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said last May. “We’re going to find out whether he’s following us or not. And if he does, we’ll react a little differently.”
However, after about a year, The war continuesAnd the Trump administration has yet to reach a meaningful agreement with Russia and Ukraine to end hostilities in the region — or to isolate Putin altogether.
“I hope people will see that when Donald Trump goes down a week or two or three weeks down the road, it’s a sign of weakness, not a sign of strength,” Senator Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said Thursday. “He’s doing it because he doesn’t know what he’s really trying to achieve. When you have no clear objective, no clear strategy, you just think about, well, let’s see where things go from here.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president used the same terminology during his effort to take over Greenland in January. After announcing at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he had agreed to the framework for a deal on the island, long ruled by Denmark, The President told reporters on Air Force One That he would have more details to give in “about two weeks”.
Trump has also said that he only needs two weeks to announce deals End the war between Israel and Hamas There was commotion in Gaza and A Deal to bring TikTok under new ownership.
And he cited deadlines several times when asked about deadlines on tariff deals with U.S. trading partners, including China.
Trump’s history of citing vague deadlines dates back to his first term, when he promised to do so declare health care And Infrastructure plans within weeks. Presidents sometimes waited months before sharing material details of their domestic policy plans. And years after he first teased the health care initiative in a debate against former Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump He said he had “concepts of a plan”. On replacing Obamacare.
Trump’s critics have similarly warned that the US and Israel’s war with Iran could turn into another “forever war” with no clear end in sight. The White House has repeatedly said it estimates a four- to six-week timeline for an ongoing war — and has repeatedly scolded reporters for questioning it.
and while Trump says Iran’s leadership has asked the administration for a ceasefireTehran has denied that it is involved in talks with the US
Despite Trump’s boasts about U.S. military strength, Iranian officials remain defiant. The country continues to attack US allies across the Middle East, and on Tuesday the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to target American technology and defense companies operating in the region if the US and Israel continued to target its leadership.
