Trump says war in Iran could be over soon, but U.S. hasn't 'won enough' yet

U.S. President Donald Trump hinted on Monday that the war in the Middle East could be over soon — though not this week, he specified — even as hardliners pledged loyalty to their new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a sign that they are not ready to back down any time soon.

But just a few minutes later, in remarks made during a news conference in Doral, Fla., Trump suggested things could get worse in the region, as he threatened to increase attacks if Iran made any attempt to disrupt the world's oil supply.

The conflicting signals sent markets on a rollercoaster, with oil prices surging and stock markets nosediving before swinging in the ‌other direction after Trump's comments and reports of a possible ease in sanctions on Russian energy.

Trump said the war would continue until Iran is "totally and decisively defeated," but predicted that would come soon.

"It's going to be finished pretty quickly," he said in an earlier speech to Republican lawmakers, also in Doral. "We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough," he said.
'It's all been blown up': Trump

Later, in his first formal news conference since the U.S. and Israel lauched their attack on Feb. 28, he told reporters that Iran no longer has a navy, air force, or anti-aircraft equipment.

"It has all been blown up," he said. "They have no radar, they have no telecommunications and they have no leadership."

"If we take Trump to his word, which is really, really difficult because it is, frankly, all over the place and constantly changing, he makes it sound as though the missiles have been depleted," Bessma Momani, fellow at the NATO Defence College, told CBC's Power and Politics.

"It's really not clear how much more they still have in their arsenal," she said. "Certainly there's been a lot of attacks to neighbouring countries using drones, so nothing sophisticated there."

But Momani said she finds the argument that Iran's nuclear capabilities had been reestablished in the few months since the U.S. claimed to have "obliterated them" last June "really dubious."