The president made his case for the U.S. attack, and said that the main objectives had been achieved.
Formidable strikes rocked Tehran early Wednesday morning. Iran launched what its state-aligned media called one of the largest attacks on Israel yet, damaging several cities.
The United States and Israel have done significant damage to Iran’s military capabilities. But Iran still fires missiles, has nuclear material and coordinates with militias in the region.
Any decision by Iran to keep fighting would complicate President Trump’s stated goal of trying to end the war within weeks.
The letter, by President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran, was at times defiant, patronizing or conciliatory, and came hours before President Trump was set to address the American people on the war.
The slow-moving A-10 “Warthog” is a so-called close-air support plane that could be used to help U.S. ground forces seize territory near the Strait of Hormuz.
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.
The interconnectedness of global energy markets means that the effects of Iran’s blockade of the waterway are not limited to countries directly dependent on oil from the Middle East.
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.