After global economy shudders, Trump zigzags on whether war will end soon

On a day when the fighting in the Middle East sent tremors through global markets, President Donald Trump offered contradictory signals about the war, suggesting that it could be ending "soon" and then a few hours later leaving the timing open-ended.

Trump first said the war was "very complete, pretty much" during a phone interview Monday with a CBS News reporter. "We're very far ahead of schedule," he added.


Oil prices and stocks swung wildly all day. But markets, which had plummeted in the early hours of U.S. trading, rebounded Monday afternoon with Trump's comment that the war was close to complete. The price of oil dropped.

Then, after markets closed for the day, Trump made a series of comments that moved in another direction. He told a gathering of Republican lawmakers in Florida that "we have won in many ways, but not enough."Also Read: Trump defends Iran war decision as oil soars above $100 for the first time in 4 years

"We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all," he said, adding: "We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated."

At a news conference Monday evening, Trump delivered a string of ambiguous messages. He said he was not happy with the current Iranian leadership. "I was disappointed to see their choice" of new supreme leader, he said, stopping short of his previous statement that the slain supreme leader's son would be "unacceptable."

He listed what he said were the U.S. accomplishments of the war: the decimation of missile launchers, the setbacks to the Iranian nuclear program and the killing of many Iranian leaders.

He said the U.S. Navy would escort ships through the crucial gateway of Gulf oil and gas, the Strait of Hormuz, adding, "If needed."

Asked again when the war would end, he said, "I think soon, very soon."

His comments came after Iran had displayed defiance, both with a barrage of missile and drone strikes across the Middle East and with the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as its new leader.

As Israel's military launched what it called a "wide-scale" attack across Iranian territory on the 10th day of the war, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, taunted the United States and Israel on social media about the soaring oil prices, calling the attacks on his country "Operation Epic Mistake."

"We, too, have many surprises in store," Araghchi said.