US President Donald Trump wrote that the US is "getting very close" to meeting its objectives and is considering "winding down" military efforts in the Middle East in a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
Trump specified five objectives that the US was close to completing.
First, the US is aiming to entirely degrade Iranian missile capabilities; second, destroy Iran's defense industrial base; third, dismantle Iran's navy, air force, and air defenses; fourth, prevent Iran from nearing nuclear capability; and fifth, protect the US's Middle Eastern allies.
Trump added that the Strait of Hormuz would have to be policed by those nations that use it, excluding the US.
Trump wrote that if asked, the US may aid in the handling of the Strait, but that such efforts should be unnecessary "once Iran's threat is eradicated" and that such efforts would “be an easy military operation” for those countries.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: We're hunting and striking death and destruction
Trump’s comments echo Thursday's remarks on the state of the war from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“We're hunting and striking death and destruction from above,” Hegseth said, asserting that the Islamic Republic’s air defense had been “flattened.”
“Iran's defense industrial base: the factories, the production lines that feed their missile and drone programs [have been] overwhelmingly destroyed,” he stated, adding that Tehran’s ability to make new ballistic missiles “has probably taken the hardest hit of all.”
He went on to reiterate that since the start of Operation Epic Fury, Iranian ballistic missile attacks on US forces had descreased 90% and that the same figure was true of Iran’s one-way attack drones.
According to data from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, the number of daily waves of Iranian attacks on Israel dropped precipitously just days after the start of the war.
According to the institute’s data, which did not specify the number of missiles or drones launched in each wave, the first day of the war saw 44 waves or Iranian attacks on Israel, followed by a peak of 55 waves the next day.
On March 2, it had plummeted to 16. The number of daily waves leveled off after that, and from March 3 through March 18, Iran has launched between 7 and 13 daily waves.
Trump’s announcement that the US was considering “winding down” its Middle East military operations came after the president told reporters on Tuesday that "we'll be leaving in pretty much the very near future."
Meanwhile, Israel has given no specific indication of when it may decide the goals of the war have been met.
Analysts believe the notion that Trump may soon decide to conclude the US’s involvement in the conflict has likely sparked fears in Israel that Washington will pull out before Jerusalem believes the job is done.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated that he and Trump were in lockstep and fully aligned on the dangers of the Iranian regime.