U.S. President Donald Trump declared during a White House press briefing that the war with Iran is ‘militarily effectively over’ and that there is ‘positive momentum’ toward ending the conflict.
He made a surprise visit to the White House briefing room on Monday after meeting earlier in the day with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
Trump told reporters: ‘Iran militarily is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo.’
He added that Iran has been ‘decapitated’ but said he is still looking to make sure there’s a long-term solution to ensuring that Iran’s nuclear programme is defanged.
They were some of Trump’s most definitive comments about moving away from his threat to resume strikes on Iran since the US midterm elections.
The President’s Republican Party lost both chambers of Congress to Democrats in last week’s elections.
The elections were shadowed by dissatisfaction among the US electorate over the eight-month war, which has led to a surge in fuel prices that have affected nearly every sector of the global economy.
US-Israeli attacks have devastated Iran and caused reverberations across the world.
