PresidentDonald Trumptold reporters on Friday he is not interested in a ceasefire with Iran.
"We could have dialogue, but I don't want to do a ceasefire," Trump said from theWhite HouseSouth Lawn before departing for Florida. "You know you don't do a ceasefire when you're literally obliterating the other side."
"They don't have a navy. They don't have an air force. They don't have any equipment," Trump continued.
In aTruth Social postlater Friday afternoon, Trump claimed that the U.S. is "getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East."
He also asserted that the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping lane for much of the world's oil trade, "will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!"
"If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn't be necessary once Iran's threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them," Trump wrote in the post.
Trump's comments come nearly three weeks into theU.S.-Israel war against Iran, which has turned into a broader regional conflict. They signal no quick end to the conflict, which sentstocks tumblingon Friday and has causedoil prices to soar.
Earlier Friday, Trump said in a phone call with MS Now's Stephanie Ruhle that the U.S. could end the war"right now"but that he planned to press on with the offensive.
"I think we've won," he later said on the South Lawn. "All they're doing is blocking up the Strait. But from a military standpoint, they're finished."
Iran has effectively blocked off the strait since the start of the war. Trump has blasted NATO allies in an attempt to recruit additional support to help open the strait, which he said again Friday doesn't matter to the U.S.
Source: Drudge Report
