(LifeSiteNews) — During a press conference on Monday, as President Donald Trump appeared to be laying the groundwork to unilaterally declare victory and bring his preemptive war against Iran to a close, he revealed his decision to launch the original attack relied on information from his close advisers.
“The situation was very quickly approaching the point of no return,” the president said regarding a supposed imminent military threat coming from Iran.
And as Commander and Chief of the United States military, Trump said it was “intolerable, in my opinion, based on what Steve (Witkoff), and Jared (Kushner) and Pete (Hegseth) and others were telling me — Marco (Rubio) was so involved — that I thought that they were going to attack us. I thought they would. If we didn’t do this at the time we did it, I think they had in mind to attack us,” he said, apparently seeking to justify the February 28 preemptive strike against Iran.
President Trump said he bombed Iran on the counsel of Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Pete Hegseth, and others.
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Yet, while Trump has projected his belief that the war could end soon, Iranian officials are speaking of a long war with ambitions to drive the U.S. out of the region.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump told CBS News yesterday. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.”
A few hours later, he sent a different message, saying the United States hasn’t “won enough” yet and that he intended to do more to attain victory. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward, more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
However, about the same time, Trump’s Department of War released a statement on X saying the war had “just begun.” Asked about the contradictory messaging regarding an immanent end to the war or its just starting, Trump said, “You could say both. It’s the beginning of building a new country … We could call it a tremendous success … or we could go further and we’re going to go further.”
Iran determined to fight ‘until the US is expelled from the region’
In contrast, Iranian government and military leaders have explicitly maintained the consistent message that they are not interested in a ceasefire with the United States. They view any temporary truce as merely a pause until the U.S. and Israel choose to strike again. On Monday, a senior official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared that Iran stands prepared to sustain the fight for a full decade if necessary.
“We have been fighting the enemy for several days. Their strikes hit us, but ours were more powerful and deadly. Our intelligence has monitored the enemy for years, preparing for an attack, even if the timing was unknown,” Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Jabari said to The New Arab yesterday.
“We are prepared for a long war, possibly lasting up to 10 years. Our armed forces operate according to preplanned scenarios and will continue until the U.S. is expelled from the region and forced to retreat,” the general added.
Jabari stated that Iran possesses a sufficient stockpile of missiles to sustain the conflict while emphasizing that Tehran’s conditions for ending the war include firm assurances against any future outbreak of hostilities.
“We say clearly that the United States must leave the region completely and permanently. This is the demand of our people. We will continue the war until full calm returns to the region and decisive guarantees are provided that no war will be launched again against Iran or the region,” Jabari said.
“Americans must understand that the Iranian people will no longer accept a temporary ceasefire followed by another war six months later,” he continued. “The matter must be settled at this stage.”
During remarks to CBS, Trump indicated he is also weighing the possibility of “taking over” the Strait of Hormuz, which the IRGC has essentially closed. Jabari responded that Iran’s armed forces stand prepared to attack American warships should they try to pass through this vital chokepoint.
“We await U.S. warships in the strait to target them with our advanced missiles. We have capabilities not yet disclosed,” Jabari said. “So far, we have struck at least 10 oil tankers. I tell the Americans: We are waiting for your warships to send them to the bottom of the sea.”
Cardinal Parolin: ‘The force of law has been replaced by the law of force’
Speaking in the context of the Israeli-U.S. initiated war against Iran, Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin affirmed the immorality of so-called “preventive war.”
“If states were to be recognized as having a right to ‘preventive war,’ according to their own criteria and without a supranational legal framework, the whole world would risk being set ablaze,” the cardinal told Vatican News on March 4.
“This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated,” he lamented.
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