<\/p>\n
At the very<\/span> start of his war with Iran, President Donald Trump declared victory. \u201cWe won,\u201d ?<\/a>Trump announced<\/a> on March 11, 11 days after launching the joint attack<\/a> with Israel. \u201cIn the first hour it ?was over.\u201d But more than 2,200 hours later, the conflict is obviously still raging.<\/p>\n This week, U.S. forces bombarded Iran after the downing of an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with strikes on targets across the Middle East and threats<\/a> to \u201cturn the entire region into hell.\u201d Trump told Fox News\u2019s Trey Yingst on Wednesday night that the U.S. fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at targets inside Iran, in addition to bombing raids by fighter jets. Yingst reported<\/a> that Trump also said, \u201cWe\u2019ll bomb the S out of them tomorrow night’\u201d if Iran did not sign a peace agreement. Trump followed this on Thursday by declaring<\/a> the U.S. would be \u201chitting Iran \u2026 VERY HARD TONIGHT.\u201d<\/p>\n The burgeoning forever war contradicts months of reassurances by Trump that a peace deal with Iran is imminent.<\/p>\n An Intercept analysis of Trump\u2019s claims about the Iran war, stated objectives, and supposed achievements finds the U.S. has fallen short or flamed out on all counts.\u00a0The public record shows an administration that has consistently scaled back its goals<\/a> and downgraded its claimed successes, without nearing anything resembling the victory Trump has touted.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the first day of the conflict, Trump laid out, with complete clarity, his most ambitious objectives. Claiming Iran was already \u201cvery much destroyed and, even, obliterated,\u201d Trump said his war would bring peace to the region and, somehow, the globe. \u201cThe heavy and pinpoint bombing \u2026 will continue, uninterrupted \u2026 as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> on Truth Social on February 28.<\/p>\n The bombing campaign was, indeed, \u201cheavy.\u201d The \u201cpinpoint\u201d attacks included a strike on an elementary school<\/a> that killed between 150 and 175 civilians, most of them children. And thousands more civilians died in other strikes. Almost 149,000 civilian infrastructures<\/a>, including homes, hospitals, and schools, have been damaged in the U.S.\u2013Israel war, according to an April report from the Iranian Red Crescent Society. An estimated 400,000 people have been affected by damage to houses and apartments. But Iran was not \u201cvery much destroyed,\u201d much less \u201cobliterated.\u201d<\/p>\n Peace in the Middle East, it goes without saying, never came to pass. The U.S.\u2013Israeli strikes actually kicked off a regional war that grew to include more than a dozen countries, including Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Beyond this, the inability of the self-proclaimed \u201cpeace president<\/a>,\u201d head of the world\u2019s newly created Board of Peace<\/a>, and recipient of the first FIFA Peace Prize<\/a> to achieve \u201cpeace throughout \u2026 the world\u201d may stand as Trump\u2019s grandest failure.<\/p>\n Just two days after setting out his topline goals, Trump began publicly vacillating and dramatically scaling back U.S. aims. \u201cOur objectives are clear. First, we\u2019re destroying Iran\u2019s missile capabilities,\u201d he said during a March 2 White House ceremony. \u201cSecond, we\u2019re annihilating their navy. \u2026 Third, we\u2019re ensuring that the world\u2019s number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. \u2026 And finally, we\u2019re ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.\u201d<\/p>\n Months later, these objectives remain unmet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the United States\u00a0claims to have struck more than 13,000 targets<\/a> in Iran, leaked U.S. intelligence assessments<\/a>\u00a0found evidence that Iran restored 30 of the 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz to operational status, and retained 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile and 70 percent of its mobile launchers. Reports emerged that in April and May, Iran began efforts to repair its Yazd Missile Base<\/a>. In just one day last week, Kuwait says it was targeted by an Iranian barrage of \u201c13 hostile ballistic missiles<\/a>.\u201d On Sunday, Iran launched\u00a0ballistic missiles<\/a>\u00a0at Israel. And on Thursday, Iran attacked multiple countries in the region, including Jordan which said it shot down 20 Iranian missiles<\/a>.<\/p>\n During an aborted<\/a> interview with NBC News that aired on Sunday, even Trump admitted he had failed. \u201cThey have some missiles left,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI would say, percentage-wise, maybe 21, 22 percent of their missiles. It\u2019s a lot of missiles.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While the U.S. sunk many Iranian ships, the Iranian Navy has not been annihilated. In fact, U.S. Central Command, which is overseeing the war effort, has repeatedly referred to actions by Iran\u2019s Navy<\/a> and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy<\/a> in the months since Trump laid out his aims, demonstrating that both still exist, upending Trump\u2019s frequent boasts to the contrary.<\/p>\n Just last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that \u201cthere is no Iranian Navy<\/a>,\u201d and in the next breath admitted there was, referencing Iran\u2019s \u201cBoston Whalers with machine guns on them.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran also still maintains its stockpile of enriched uranium. And there is no evidence that nuclear sites that were not attacked during Trump\u2019s 2025 Iran war, such as\u00a0Pickaxe Mountain<\/a>, were ever damaged. Last week, in fact, Rubio confirmed that Iran\u2019s \u201cnuclear program<\/a>\u201d still exists. And during his recent NBC interview, Trump acknowledged that Iran still possessed its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and \u201cthey can get it, I guess, with years of work.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, Rubio even suggested<\/a> Iran might be allowed to continue enrichment at some later date, noting it would need to accept \u201csevere and long-term limitations, and\/or cancellation, of enrichment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has also failed to ensure \u201cthat the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.\u201d Days after Trump declared this war aim, House Republicans introduced legislation<\/a> stating that \u201cIran remains the world\u2019s largest state sponsor of terrorism and provides substantial financial and military support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.\u201d In the months since, even the Trump administration says the president\u2019s goals haven\u2019t been achieved.<\/p>\n In mid-April, the State Department said<\/a> that Iran still \u201cfunnels the wealth of the Iranian people to Hizballah and other terrorists in the Middle East.\u201d That same month, the Treasury Department took action<\/a> against a \u201cconstellation of Iran-backed terrorist militias,\u201d specifically \u201cseven Iraqi militia commanders responsible for planning, directing, and executing attacks against U.S. personnel, facilities, and interests in Iraq,\u201d\u00a0including leaders of Kata\u2019ib Hizballah, Kata\u2019ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, Harakat Al-Nujaba, and Asa\u2019ib Ahl Al-Haqq.\u00a0In May, the Treasury Department again targeted<\/a> \u201cIran and its proxy militias in Iraq,\u201d sanctioning \u201cleaders of Iran-aligned terrorist militias\u00a0Kata\u2019ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Asa\u2019ib Ahl Al-Haq\u201d and referencing still \u201cother Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq.\u201d<\/p>\n This assemblage of failures has been compounded by other unmet war aims. On March 6, Trump set the terms for an agreement with Iran. \u201cThere will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!\u201d he wrote<\/a> on Truth Social. In the months since, that hard-line stance has turned to mush.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the prospect before us \u2014 which could happen today,\u201d Rubio said last week of a potential peace deal, in a weak-kneed explanation to lawmakers. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that something like that could happen in which the straits would reopen, we would enter into a period of negotiations on very specific topics \u2014 delineated negotiations in the hope of reaching an outcome that\u2019s acceptable to us, and something they would be able to do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cstraits\u201d in question have become another sticking point and catastrophe.\u00a0After failing to achieve all his initial war aims, Trump added another that was nothing more than a return to the status quo antebellum in the Strait of Hormuz: opening the waterway to traffic after Iran imposed a wartime blockade.<\/p>\n Before the war, the average number of vessels crossing the strait \u2014 a critical artery for the world\u2019s oil, fertilizer, helium, critical materials for microchips, and numerous other goods \u2014 was more than 120 per day. It has never been close to that level again.<\/p>\n \u201cI gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out,\u201d Trump declared<\/a> on April 4. When the U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on April 7, Trump\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0on social media that he would \u201csuspend the bombing and attack of Iran\u201d on the condition that Tehran agree to the \u201cCOMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d <\/p>\n The next day, the White House declared: \u201cIran has now\u00a0agreed\u00a0to a ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump Administration negotiates a broader peace agreement \u2014 once more proving Peace Through Strength victorious.\u201d But that same day, Iran closed the strait, following continued\u00a0Israeli attacks<\/a>\u00a0on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.\u00a0<\/p>\n In response to Iran\u2019s blockade, the U.S. imposed its own blockade of the strait on April 13, barring commercial vessels from entering or leaving Iranian ports. Then on April 15, Trump posted<\/a>: \u201cI am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d Two days later, Trump claimed<\/a>, \u201cIran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again.\u201d On April 19, Trump said Iran had launched attacks in the strait and noted Iran had announced a blockade. On April 23, Trump ordered the Navy to attack Iranian ships laying mines in the strait. On May 6, Trump teased that the war might be \u201cat an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran.\u201d A day later, Trump said<\/a> U.S. warships came under Iranian fire in the strait. The situation was still dragging on when Trump wrote<\/a>, on May 29: \u201cThe Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions.\u201d On Monday, a U.S. Army Apache helicopter gunship patrolling the strait was downed by Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Strait of Hormuz remains functionally closed, except for a tiny trickle of traffic. \u201cLast month, I directed our Great U.S. Military to execute a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Trump posted<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cMore than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait.\u201d (About 3,000 ships normally traverse it every month.) On Thursday, Iran announced<\/a>\u00a0that it, again, closed the strait to oil tankers and commercial ships.<\/p>\n Oil industry analysts say that global\u00a0oil reserves are dwindling<\/a>\u00a0and that if the war doesn\u2019t wrap up in the near term, petroleum prices could skyrocket to $150 a barrel. \u201cThe oil will go down,\u201d Trump said on NBC, but acknowledged the war had driven up prices. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have higher gasoline. We\u2019re going to have a little higher fertilizer,\u201d he admitted, before equivocating further when asked if gasoline prices had peaked.\u00a0\u201cWell, it depends. I mean, it depends where the war goes. It could be,\u201d he waffled. \u201cIf we sign an agreement, it\u2019ll go down now. Otherwise, it\u2019ll go down after we\u2019re finished.\u201d<\/p>\n Oil prices rose to about $95 a barrel<\/a> on Thursday as the U.S. and Iran continued to launch attacks. Trump said<\/a> on Wednesday that the price of oil would have been at $250 a barrel had the U.S. government not been siphoning off \u201cmillions of barrels\u201d of Iran\u2019s oil over the course of the war. On Thursday, Trump posted<\/a> that the U.S. would also soon seize Iran\u2019s \u201coil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets.\u201d Despite the rampant oil theft and threats of more to come, U.S. inflation accelerated for a third straight month in May, driven by energy prices which rose 3.9 percent over the month.<\/p>\nA Promise of World Peace<\/h2>\n
Eliminating Missiles<\/h2>\n
Annihilating the Navy<\/h2>\n
Ending the Nuclear Program<\/h2>\n
Halting Funding of Militias<\/h2>\n
Unconditional Surrender<\/h2>\n
Reopening the Strait<\/h2>\n