Trump Grapples With Ending Operation Epic Fury as U.S. and Iran Confrontation Widen

The United States and Iran remain locked in a widening confrontation as Trump grapples with how to end a war he said was meant to last no more than a month and a half but that CNN described as grinding into its 10th week.

CNN reported that “The latest hope is a one-page memo now being negotiated with the two countries and third-party mediator Pakistan,” with the document “would end the war and start a 30-day clock to resolve sticking points.”

Ain Libya

In a separate account, Mondoweiss said Trump announced “Project Freedom” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz and then “suspended ‘Project Freedom’” after he said the U.S. was close to an agreement to end the war.

CNN also described how Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that the war—“Operation Epic Fury”—was over, before another operation was paused after shepherding only a few vessels to safety.

VOA Farsi quoted Trump saying, “They are militarily defeated,” while also stressing that a “complete end of combat operations” had not been reached and that Washington still had the option to strike additional targets.

Politico reported that Arab and U.S. officials worry Trump’s belittling of Iranian leaders could become “a major obstacle to truly ending a war that has strained the world economy.”

Politico quoted a senior Gulf Arab official saying, “He badly wants this to end,” while adding that “the Iranians are so far refusing to give him what he needs to save face and leave.”

Al Jazeera

Politico also cited White House spokesperson Anna Kelly saying “conversations continue,” and it quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledging that Iran has shown a high tolerance for economic pain.

In the same Politico account, Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, urged Trump to let envoys negotiate, saying, “Not a tweet, not a public comment, not a threat, not a compliment.”

Mondoweiss framed the shift differently, saying Trump “announced that they were close to an agreement to end the war” and that the “major shift came from Washington” accepting Iran’s formulation to stop the war and reopen the Strait before negotiations on other matters.

As the negotiation effort continues, VOA Farsi said Trump claimed the United States had “so far attacked about 70 percent of its targeted objectives,” and it quoted him defending the idea that the regime’s military defeat does not mean combat is fully over.

EconomyOnline, citing Fararu, quoted Trump saying, “We could undertake a military operation against Iran in about two weeks and attack each of the identified targets,” while also repeating that the U.S. may have achieved “about 70 percent of them.”

اعتمادآنلاین reported that Democratic senator Mark Kelly told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” that the war against Iran has driven up costs and left the nation short of ammunition, quoting him: “the American people are less secure; whether the confrontation is in the Western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, ammunition has run out.”

In the same اعتمادآنلاین account, Kelly said Trump “dragged our country into a war against Iran without a strategic objective, without a plan, without a timeline,” and it tied that to the claim that the U.S. “expended a lot of ammunition.”

CNN added that Iran is expected to hand its responses to the US plan to Pakistani mediators on Thursday, and it described Trump’s domestic constraints as including “gas prices averaging over $4.50 a gallon” alongside an approval rating “in the 30s.”