President Trump is making it clear that while the United States is engaged in a massive military operation against Iran, he believes there is still a potential “off-ramp” to end the conflict quickly.
In a phone interview with Axios from Mar-a-Lago, President Trump outlined two possible paths forward. “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs],’” he said.
It was his first extended public comment since announcing early Saturday that American forces were engaged in what he described as a “massive and ongoing operation” targeting Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.
President Trump framed the strikes as the culmination of decades of unresolved aggression. He referenced the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, when 52 Americans were held captive for 444 days. He cited the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members. He pointed to Iranian-backed militias responsible for killing and wounding American troops in Iraq, as well as continued proxy attacks on U.S. forces and commercial vessels in regional shipping lanes.
According to President Trump, the latest action follows repeated warnings. After Operation Midnight Hammer last June, when U.S. forces bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities, he said the United States made it clear Tehran must not resume nuclear development.
“We warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we repeatedly sought to make a deal,” President Trump said. “We tried. They wanted to do it—they didn’t. They wanted to do it—again—they didn’t want to do it.”
Israel confirmed it launched a preemptive strike alongside the broader U.S. offensive, targeting military and nuclear sites in Tehran and other major cities. Israeli officials have since confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a development that dramatically raises the stakes across the region.
Despite the scale of the operation, President Trump signaled that his objective is not indefinite occupation. He suggested that once Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities are neutralized, the conflict could end swiftly.
He also issued a direct message to the Iranian people. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” President Trump said. “This will probably be your only chance for generations.”
For now, U.S. forces remain engaged, and the world is watching closely. Whether this ends in days or expands into a prolonged regional conflict will depend on what happens next in Tehran and beyond.