Iran deal: Trump's 7 unfulfilled objectives
President Donald Trump said the US is close to signing a deal with Iran to wind down the war, with a memorandum of understanding to
President Donald Trump said the US is close to signing a deal with Iran to wind down the war, with a memorandum of understanding to be signed in the coming days.But some of the key objectives Trump laid out for the conflict seem to remain unfulfilled. And while the Trump administration has said its objectives are clear and unchanging, the list has expanded and shifted as the president and his administration have spoken about the war since it started February 28.Also read: Iran calls Trump's claims 'baseless', alleges US attacked vessels killing three Indian seafarers All the while, the conflict has battered the global economy, tested alliances and raised unanswered questions about the planning for the conflict, its justification and its aftermath.By most accounts, the strikes by the US and Israel have significantly degraded Iran's military capabilities and killed scores of senior leaders. But those tactical successes don't necessarily translate into achieving all the president's strategic aims, even as the administration said Friday that it was meeting the goals it had laid out.Here's a look at the objectives laid out by Trump at various points since the outset of the war and what we know about where they stand: Destroy Iran's ability to fire missiles One of the prime objectives laid out by the administration was to "destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground." Trump said in late March that Iran's missiles "are mostly decimated" and that 90% of their missiles and launchers were knocked out.By mid-May, that shifted to a more conservative estimate, with the president saying that 82% of Iran's missiles were gone.Adm. Brad Cooper, the top US military commander in the Middle East, told lawmakers in mid-May that Iran maintains a "very moderate if not small capability to continue strikes" in the region.Iran proved as recently as this week that it still had the ability to launch missiles when it attacked three Gulf allies of the US.Destroy Iran's defense industrial base Early in the war, the president and his administration sometimes listed this as a standalone objective. Other times, it has fallen off their list.US Central Command has said its targets for strikes in Iran have included weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities.Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in early June that Iran has had "massive destruction" of its defence industrial base and "80 to 90% of attrition.
It will take years for them to rebuild it." Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired Sunday: "Most of the drone factories have been knocked out, most of the launching pads have been knocked out and most of the missile manufacturing areas have been knocked out. But they still have capacity."Also read: US military's plan for ground operation to seize Iran's Uranium was paused by Trump: ReportEliminate Iran's navy and air force The US and Israel quickly established air superiority in the skies above Iran, where they flew largely unchallenged.Rubio told lawmakers that Iran still has drone capabilities, but it lacks the ability to use swarms of drones to attack targets, as it did at the start of the war.He also said Iran does not have a navy but small crafts outfitted with machine guns that harass ships and sometimes drop mines in the water.Iran has shown its ability to still launch attacks in the region, such as a deadly June 3 attack of drones and missiles at Kuwait that led to the brief closure of its main airport. The US and Bahrain also said they intercepted missiles and drones fired at the Gulf kingdom by Iran.And on Tuesday, Trump blamed Tehran for the downing of a US Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz after it collided with an Iranian drone.Obliterate Iran's nuclear programme for good Trump made a marked shift over the last year after declaring that the US had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear programme in June, only for his aides to warn that Iran was just weeks away from a bomb to justify the current operations.One of the most pressing questions is what will be done with about 970 pounds of enriched uranium that Tehran has that could potentially be used for a weapon. The material is believed to be buried under three nuclear sites bombed by the US and Israel last year. Trump said in a May 29 social media post that it will be retrieved by the US "in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED." Iran has not said whether it would consent.
The BriefWire