Trump signals war with Iran could be over soon – even as he vows not to surrender

President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that the war with Iran may be nearing its end, saying that US and Israeli forces had already damaged much of Iran's military infrastructure, even as he vowed that the United States would press ahead until the country's leadership was decisively defeated.

The President's mixed signals, given during a day of interviews and speeches, underscored the uncertain trajectory of a conflict that has rapidly expanded across the Middle East and raised fears in Washington that it could deepen into a longer, deadlier war.

In a phone interview with CBS News on Monday afternoon, Trump described the war against Iran as almost over. “I think the war is pretty much over, more or less,” the president said from his golf club in Doral, Florida, arguing that Iran’s military capabilities had been largely destroyed after a wave of attacks by the United States and Israel. “If you look, they have nothing left. They have nothing left in a military sense.”

But hours later, speaking to Republican lawmakers gathered for a House policy hearing in Florida, Trump struck a very different tone, describing the war as unfinished and pledging continued military pressure.

“We have already won in many ways, but we have not won enough,” Trump told the crowd, which responded with applause. “We move forward more determined than ever to achieve the final victory that will end this long danger once and for all.”

He added that the United States will not stop until Iran’s leadership and military apparatus are completely defeated. “Right now, nobody has any idea who the people are who are going to be the leader of the country,” Trump said, after Iran announced that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would take the position. “And we will not back down until the enemy is completely and decisively defeated.”

However, Trump repeatedly called the war a "short-term excursion," telling lawmakers that the United States had entered the region "to get rid of some bad guys" and predicting that the campaign would end quickly.

“Together with our Israeli partners, we are destroying the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical prowess and military might,” Trump said. “Iran’s drone and missile capabilities are being completely destroyed. The navy is gone. Everything is lying on the bottom of the ocean. 46 ships. Can you believe it?” He added that the US “got rid of about 80% of” Iran’s missile launchers.

However, the President's insistence that the war could soon be over also contradicted signals from the Pentagon that the campaign may only be beginning. On Monday, the Defense Department posted a message on social media declaring: "We have just begun to fight."

The comments reflected an administration still struggling to define both the goals and the expected duration of a war now several days into its second week. Since the conflict began, senior officials have offered a variety of shifting explanations for the initial strikes on Iran — sometimes highlighting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, sometimes citing the need to protect American troops and allies in the region, or pointing to Israel’s own military plans.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially suggested that the United States acted in part because Israel was preparing its own attack and may have provoked retaliation against American forces. Trump later rejected this claim, saying he believed Iran itself was preparing to attack first and that he may have “forced Israel to intervene.”

The war has already taken a mounting humanitarian and economic toll across the region. The Iranian Red Crescent Society has said nearly 1,300 people have been killed in attacks inside the country, while Iranian attacks across the Middle East have killed more than 30 people. Israeli attacks have also spread to Lebanon, killing nearly 500 people, according to Lebanese officials, and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians.

“We’re going to have a much safer world once it’s over,” Trump said Monday. “It’s going to be over very quickly.”