President Trump did not define a clear path out of the conflict, which he estimated would end within three weeks.
President Trump’s statement was the second time in 24 hours that he had declared that the nuclear problem with Iran had been solved, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had crushed Iran’s capacity to make nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But Iran has continued attacking Israel and Persian Gulf countries and is believed to still have highly enriched uranium.
Threatening to pull out of NATO, President Trump portrayed the alliance as a “paper tiger” and said Europe was on its own in trying to secure the Strait of Hormuz.
For the second time in recent days, President Trump declared that one of the key objectives of the war had been accomplished.
A close U.S. ally and regional rival of Iran, the kingdom has faced hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks since the war began.
A wave of strikes across the Middle East in recent days shows that Iran has not lost the capacity to retaliate.
Iran does not want a momentary pause in the fighting, fearing that Israel and the United States would use that opportunity to beef up their forces before resuming strikes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the order on Tuesday for the military to accelerate its attacks, with a 48-hour deadline, four people briefed on the matter said.
With President Trump threatening to strike Iranian power plants, some war-weary civilians are panicking over a possible new debacle.