President Donald Trump has suggested he is considering winding down military operations in the Middle East, even as the United States deploys three additional amphibious assault ships and around 2,500 more Marines to the region. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said: 'We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East.'
The statement came amid an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide, and as airstrikes and drone attacks continue to escalate. Iran's top military spokesperson, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that 'parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations' globally would not be safe for the country's enemies.
The mixed messages from the US follow a rise in oil prices that has hit stock markets, and a move by the Trump administration to lift sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded on ships, aimed at curbing soaring fuel prices. The three-week-old war shows no signs of abating, with Israel reporting continued missile fire from Iran and Saudi Arabia saying it shot down 20 drones in its eastern region, home to major oil installations.
The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the conflict, from hoping to foment an uprising in Iran to eliminating its nuclear and missile programmes. There have been no public signs of an uprising, and no end to the war in sight. The US has requested an additional $200 billion from Congress to fund the war, and has now deployed over 50,000 troops to the region.
In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised the nation's steadfastness in a written statement for the Persian New Year, but has not been seen in public since Israeli strikes killed his father and reportedly wounded him. The extent of damage to Iran's military, nuclear and energy facilities remains unclear. The war has killed over 1,300 people in Iran, 15 in Israel, and 13 US military personnel, while displacing more than one million in Lebanon.
