How Trump's stated reasons, goals and timeline for Iran war have shifted

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and his top officials have offered shifting objectives and reasons for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which critics say shows a lack of planning for the conflict and its aftermath.

Stated objectives and expected timeline have varied, including toppling Iran’s government, weakening Iran’s military, security and nuclear capabilities and its regional influence, as well as supporting Israeli interests.

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Here is how Trump described his ​war goals and timeline:

FEBRUARY 28: CALLS FOR IRANIANS TO TOPPLE THEIR GOVERNMENT

The Iranian people should “take over” governance of their country, Trump said in a video on ‌social media as the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks. “It will be yours to take,” he added. “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”

Trump described the attacks as “major combat operations.”

FEBRUARY 28: WEAKEN IRAN’S MILITARY, INFLUENCE

Trump said Washington would deny Iran the ability to have a nuclear weapon, although Tehran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Iran does not have nuclear weapons while the United States does. Israel is also widely believed to ​be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons.

Trump insisted he would end what he described as Tehran’s ballistic missile threat. “We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile ​industry to the ground,” he said. “We’re going to annihilate their navy.”

Trump claimed Iran’s long range missiles “can now threaten our very good friends and allies ⁠in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland.”

His remarks echoed the case of President George W. Bush for the Iraq war, which had false claims. Neither experts nor ​U.S. intelligence support Trump’s assertions and both assess that Iran’s ballistic missile program was years from threatening the U.S. homeland.

MARCH 2: SHIFTING TIMELINE

Trump said the war was projected to last four to five ​weeks but could go on longer.

“We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it’s okay. Whatever it takes,” Trump said at the White House. In a social media post, Trump said there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of U.S. munitions and that “wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”

In a notification to Congress, Trump provided no timeline. Trump earlier told the Daily Mail the war could take “four weeks, ​or less,” then told The New York Times four to five weeks and subsequently said it could take longer.

MARCH 2: RUBIO SAYS U.S. ATTACKED IRAN BECAUSE ISRAEL DID

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ​reporters Israel’s determination to attack Iran forced Washington to strike.

“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if ‌we didn’t preemptively ⁠go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said.

MARCH 3: TRUMP CONTRADICTS RUBIO

Trump said he ordered U.S. forces to join Israel’s attack on Iran because he believed Iran was about to strike first.

“I might have forced their (Israel’s) hand,” Trump said. “If we didn’t do it, they (Iran) were going to attack first.”

MARCH 4: CALL TO ‘DESTROY’ SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the goal was to “destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their navy and other security infrastructure.”

MARCH 6: ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’ CALL

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” Trump wrote on social ​media.

MARCH 8-11: JUST THE START BUT ALSO ‘PRETTY MUCH ​COMPLETE’

Hegseth told CBS News in an interview aired ⁠March 8 strikes on Iran were “only just the beginning.”

A day later, Trump told the same network “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”

“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” Trump told reporters later on the same day. When asked if the war was beginning ​or complete, he said: “Well, I think you could say both.”

On March 11, Trump again said he thought the U.S. had won but: “We’ve got ​to finish the job.”

MARCH 13: ⁠SOFTENS CALL FOR INTERNAL UPRISING

In a March 13 interview, Trump told Fox News the war will end “when I feel it in my bones.”

Trump softened his call for Iranians to topple their government. “So I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons,” Trump said.

MARCH 19: HEGSETH SAYS NO TIME FRAME

Hegseth said Washington was not setting a time frame for the war and Trump would ⁠decide when to ​stop.

“We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame,” the Pentagon chief said. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ​ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to.’”

MARCH 20: TRUMP CONSIDERS WINDING DOWN BUT NO CEASEFIRE

Trump posted on Truth Social that “we are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts” in ​the Iran war. Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters “I don’t want to do a ceasefire” when asked about the war.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Patricia Zengerle and Alistair Bell

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Kanishka Singh

Thomson Reuters

Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.

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