Recommendations of the Editorial team
Donald Trump delivered another confusing update on the Iran war in the Oval Office on Tuesday: Iran is incapable of fighting, i.eThe regime is overthrown and the “war is won”.
It remains unclear that additional American troops will reportedly be deployed to the Middle East at the same time – for what exactly. Trump has repeatedly declared the “war” to be over, but insists it is not a war at all, just a “military operation.”
According to Trump, it is the Democrats who called the Iran war a “war” – and the “fake news” who are responsible for portraying it as still ongoing.
Thousands more soldiers
Shortly after Trump declared the war won, several media outlets unanimously reported that the president had approved the deployment of thousands more American soldiers to the Gulf region. NBC News reported that Trump approved the deployment of over 1,000 members of the 82nd Airborne Division; The Wall Street Journal reported in a separate article that the government planned to send up to 3,000 members of the division.
That’s in addition to the roughly 50,000 American troops already stationed in the region before the government’s attack on Iran. At the beginning of the month, the Pentagon directed units of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) towards the region three weeks earlier than planned – their regular departure from San Diego would have been later. The unit has, among other things, amphibious assault ships. The Pentagon is also requesting $200 billion for the war. When Trump was asked on Monday whether this sum would still be necessary if the war – as he repeatedly claims – was coming to an end, he replied: “You always like something like that” because “the world is very heated, and the Democrats are heating it up even further.”
At the weekend, Trump gave Iran a harshly worded ultimatum: The Strait of Hormuz must be opened within 48 hours, otherwise the USA would attack the country’s energy infrastructure. Shortly afterwards, Trump backtracked and said his administration was holding talks with the Iranian leadership. When asked with whom exactly, Trump replied: with a “high-ranking person” who was “respected”.
Trump’s mysterious “gift”
In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump claimed Iran was ready to “make a deal.”
“Yesterday you did something that was truly amazing. You gave us a gift, and the gift arrived today,” he continued cryptically. “It was a very large gift, worth a tremendous amount of money. I won’t tell you what that gift is, but it was a very significant gain.”
Trump added that the “profit” was related to “oil and gas.”
