US President Donald Trump has predicted that the conflict with Iran will end soon but insisted Washington wants nothing less than a “total victory”. …reports Asian Lite News Desk
US President Donald Trump has said the conflict with Iran could end soon but insisted that Washington would settle for nothing less than a “total victory”, offering no timeline for ending the military campaign. Speaking at a Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery, Trump defended the use of American military force and claimed US forces had already secured a decisive advantage.
Addressing the gathering on Wednesday (local time), Trump said the United States wanted to ensure that its objectives were fully achieved before bringing the conflict to an end.
“We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 per cent victory. It’s going to be total,” he said, according to a transcript circulated by the White House foreign press pool.
His remarks combined confidence that the conflict would end soon with a firm position that Washington would not accept an incomplete outcome.
Trump thanked American service members involved in military operations aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, describing the objective as central to the campaign.
He also claimed that the destruction inflicted by American forces would leave Iran facing decades of reconstruction.
“It’ll take them 25 years to rebuild back what we have destroyed, and hopefully, we won’t have to destroy any more of that country,” he said.
However, Trump did not provide an assessment to support his estimate of the time Iran would need to rebuild. He also offered no details of a negotiated settlement or a timeline for withdrawing American forces.
Why is Trump insisting on total victory?
Defending the military campaign, Trump portrayed it as a response to what he described as decades of Iranian hostility towards the United States. He argued that previous administrations should have confronted Tehran much earlier.
“This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” he said.
The US President also compared the ongoing campaign with previous American military engagements in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, highlighting their prolonged duration and human costs.
He argued that those conflicts had delivered little in return for the United States, suggesting that the current campaign should achieve a more decisive outcome.
Trump maintained that the world would be safer once the conflict ended, while praising the courage and capabilities of American military personnel.
Despite expressing confidence in the military campaign, he left unanswered when Washington would consider its objectives fully achieved and bring the operations to a close.
The address also included tributes to American veterans from different generations, with Trump pledging continued support for those who had served in the armed forces.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth received loud cheers when Trump introduced him. The President praised Hegseth’s performance before continuing his tribute to the veterans gathered at the cemetery.
