Lawmakers and European officials hoping to get clarity on the U.S.-Iran conflict from President Donald Trump at a NATO summit likely left disappointed.
During a Wednesday evening press conference in Ankara, Turkey, the first reporter to question him characterized the Iran standoff as a “strategic dead end for you” and asked why Trump has been unable to fully end it.
“I think we’re doing just the opposite. The Iran war has been a tremendous military success,” Trump replied, before adding without mentioning still-high gas prices that rose after the war started on Feb. 28: “I can only answer the question by saying they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”
By the end of that answer, Trump, somehow, managed to bring up the 2024 U.S. presidential race, noting that his anti-immigration policies were a big reason “we won this election.”Asked earlier Wednesday during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte if a ceasefire with Iran was still in place after the countries traded strikes this week, Trump declared: “To me, I think it’s over.”
But he sent mixed signals about the state of the conflict and negotiations toward a hard-to-reach peace pact.
