Trump declares ‘decisive, overwhelming victory’ in Iran war, signals end of operations
President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington.
Photo: AP US President Donald Trump declared the US‑Israel war against Iran has delivered “decisive, overwhelming victories” on Wednesday, signalling that military objectives have been achieved and the month‑long operation is set to wind down, even as the conflict has rapidly escalated into a regional and global crisis.
Trump, an America-First president, suggested he would leave the Strait of Hormuz blockade to be managed by other countries, naming China, France, Japan and South Korea, which rely on the strategic chokepoint that handles about 34 per cent of global seaborne crude oil trade. “We don’t have to be there.
We don’t need their oil.
We don’t need anything, they have, but we’re there to help our allies,” he told the American people, speaking from the Oval Office. “Armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield – victories like few people have ever seen before,” Trump said. “Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and large-scale losses in a matter of weeks,” he added, claiming that Iran’s navy was “absolutely destroyed” and the air force was in “ruins”. “Their leaders, most of them terrorist regime they led, are now dead.
Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak,” he said.
At least 13 American service members have died and around 200 have been wounded since February 28, when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. “[They] laid down their lives in this fight to prevent our children from ever having to face a nuclear Iran,” Trump said on Wednesday.
The move comes amid mounting political pressure at home as rising oil prices and economic uncertainty have made him vulnerable ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump’s approval rating on his handling of the economy has fallen to an all-time low of 31 per cent, according to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Tuesday.
The president claimed US and Israeli forces had crippled Iran’s missile arsenal and production, “annihilated” its navy, cut off its proxy networks and ensured it would never obtain a nuclear weapon.
He insisted that no formal agreement with Tehran was necessary for Washington to exit the war.
However, he made no mention of regime change, as the two sides traded barbs ahead of Trump’s address.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in
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