"We are about to reach our goals as we plan to gradually reduce our significant military efforts in the Middle East against the Iranian terrorist regime," wrote the American president Friday evening on his Truth Social network. Alex Wong/ Getty Images via AFP
Three weeks into the war in the Middle East, there is no immediate end in sight. Cross-strikes continued Saturday as Donald Trump said he is considering “gradually reducing” military operations against Iran.
Although he has made contradictory statements in recent days about the potential duration of the conflict, the U.S. president for the first time suggested Friday he is ready to contemplate an end to the fighting.
“We are about to achieve our objectives as we consider gradually reducing our significant military efforts in the Middle East against the terrorist Iranian regime,” Trump wrote Friday evening on his Truth Social platform. “We are hitting them terribly hard. I don’t think it’s possible to be hit any harder,” he added.
But just hours earlier, he had ruled out any cease-fire at this stage, while several U.S. media outlets reported a forthcoming deployment of additional military forces in the region. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Pentagon had deployed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid reaction force of about 2,200 Marines, to the Middle East.
On X, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the president and the Pentagon “predicted it would take between four and six weeks to complete the mission.”
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was “being decimated.” According to him, Tehran no longer has “the capacity to enrich uranium” or “to produce ballistic missiles,” two objectives set before the start of the Israeli-American strikes in late February.
Trump also criticized NATO countries, calling them “cowards” because, he said, they “do not want to help open the Strait of Hormuz.” The United Kingdom, however, said it was allowing the United States to use British bases to strike Iranian sites targeting the strait as part of “defensive operations,” according to Downing Street.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly also said the U.S. military could “neutralize” Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil site, “at any time if President Trump gives the order,” in a statement sent to AFP.
‘The enemy has been defeated,’ Khamenei says
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen publicly since his appointment, spoke Friday in a written message.
Khamenei, successor to his father and whom U.S. and Israeli officials say is wounded, said “the enemy has been defeated.” Iranians have “delivered a dizzying blow, to the point that the enemy is now uttering contradictory and absurd words,” he said.
On Friday, the Israeli army said it had killed the intelligence chief of the Basij paramilitary force in a strike in Tehran.
Israeli strikes on Tehran and Beirut
On the ground, attacks continued from early Saturday, marking the conflict’s entry into its fourth week.
The Israeli army said Saturday morning it had launched strikes against “regime targets” in Tehran after reporting several salvos of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel.
Overnight from Friday to Saturday, the Israeli army carried out two strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, including one targeting the Kafa’at area.
Hezbollah said it launched a rocket barrage at 2:05 a.m. Saturday targeting the Filon base, south of Rosh Pina. This was its first claim for Saturday, after a record 55 claims on Friday.
In southern Lebanon, the main area of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, at least one person was killed and two others wounded early Saturday in a “heavy strike” on a house in the Bint Jbeil district, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency.
Sale of Iranian oil
In the Gulf, targeted by Iranian retaliation because of its ties to the United States and its role in global energy supply, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed about 30 drones, according to the Defense Ministry, all in the country’s east. Kuwait also said its army faced drone and missile attacks at dawn Saturday.
Global attention remains focused on oil prices, whose surge poses risks to the world economy. On Friday, global stock markets ended sharply lower, with Wall Street following European markets, while oil prices rose more moderately, with North Sea Brent closing above $112 a barrel.
In an effort to curb rising prices, the United States on Friday authorized for one month the sale and delivery of Iranian oil currently at sea, partially easing sanctions on Tehran. Iran said it has no surplus crude oil available.
In Iraq and Syria
In Iraq, also affected by the conflict, a fighter was killed late Friday in a strike targeting an alliance of former paramilitaries that includes pro-Iran armed groups at a military airport in the north of the country.
On Friday, the Israeli army said it had carried out overnight strikes Thursday against Syrian government targets after reporting attacks against Druze civilians in southern Syria.
