The US expects the bombing campaign in Iran to conclude within weeks, not months, and Washington can meet all its objectives without using ground troops, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.
Rubio told reporters after meeting G7 counterparts in France that Washington was “on or ahead of schedule in that operation, and expect to conclude it at the appropriate time here — a matter of weeks, not months.”
He also said of Iran that “when we are done with them here in the next couple weeks, they will be weaker than they’ve been in recent history.”
Citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Axios reported that Rubio had told his G7 counterparts that the war, which the US and Israel launched on February 28, was expected to last another two to four weeks — up to 14 days longer than the White House’s four- to six-week estimate.
But the “immediate challenge” after the war will be to keep Iran from imposing a toll on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally travels, said Rubio.
Rubio also said Iran had sent “messages” to the US, but has not responded to a US-proposed peace plan.
“We’ve had an exchange of messages and indications from the Iranian system — whatever’s left of it — about a willingness to talk about certain things,” he said.
A senior Iranian told Reuters that Tehran had not decided whether to respond to a 15-point proposal the US sent this week after attacks on industrial and nuclear infrastructure on Friday.
The official said Iran had expected its response to be delivered on Friday or Saturday, but said the continuing strikes while the US was seeking talks was “intolerable.”
The US proposal, sent via Pakistan two days ago, is reported to include demands ranging from dismantling Iran’s nuclear, restricting its ballistic missiles, ending its support for terrorist proxies and getting it to give up control of the Strait of Hormuz.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump extended a deadline by 10 days for Iran to reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz or face attacks against its civilian energy grid.
Troops being deployed to give Trump ‘maximum optionality’
Amid Trump’s announcement this week — denied by Iran — that peace talks were underway, Washington has dispatched two contingents of thousands of Marines to the region, the first of which is due to arrive around the end of March aboard a huge amphibious assault ship. The Pentagon is also expected to deploy thousands of elite airborne soldiers.
The expected deployment of additional US troops have raised concerns that the air war, which has already disrupted global energy supplies, could turn into a prolonged ground battle.
According to Rubio, while Washington can achieve its aims without ground troops, some are being deployed to the region to give Trump “maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge.”
Even after the US accomplishes its military objectives in Iran, “it’s important that the world have a plan” to preserve freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, said Rubio.
In the G7 talks he just attended, Rubio voiced concern that Iran may impose a permanent tolling system “immediately after” the war ends, Rubio told reporters on the tarmac.
“Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable, it’s dangerous to the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it,” he said.
He added that he has found “a lot of buy-in” to opposing any Iranian tolling in the strait.
“What we’ve said is that the countries that are most impacted by that (should) be willing to do something about it, and we’ll help them,” he said. “We’re willing to be a part of that coalition, but we’ve encouraged others to sort of put it together.
‘Strait of Trump’
In his own remarks Friday, Trump told a Miami event sponsored by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund that the US military was achieving it’s military objectives in its four-week old war against Iran.
“Tonight, we’re closer than ever to the rise of the Middle East that is finally free at last from Iranian terror and aggression and nuclear blackmail. Under my leadership, America is ending the threat posed by this radical regime,” he declared.
Trump also jokingly referred to the Strait of Hormuz by another name.
“They have to open up the Strait of Trump. I mean, Hormuz,” he said. He added sarcastically, “Excuse me … I’m so sorry — such a terrible mistake.”
“The fake news will say he accidentally said (Strait of Trump),” he added. “No, there’s no accidents with me. Not too many.”
Trump reiterated his disappointment with NATO allies for refusing to send military to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying Washington may not help them in future if asked to do so.
“They just weren’t there,” he said at an investment forum in Miami. “We spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on NATO, hundreds, protecting them, and we would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we?”
“Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us? They weren’t there for us.”
Since the start of the war, Trump has repeatedly voiced frustration over Western allies’ lack of support and reluctance to commit forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key sea lane for Gulf oil and gas exports vulnerable to Iranian attacks.
Traffic through the narrow waterway has ground to a virtual standstill, leading to a surge in global energy prices. Six key powers including Britain, France, Germany and Japan say they are ready to “contribute to appropriate efforts” but have not made any commitment.
Trump on Friday also expressed his desire for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, which saw several Arab countries normalize diplomat ties with Israel during his first term in office.
“The Middle East will be transformed (as a result of the war) and the future of that region — I don’t think it’s ever been brighter,” Trump said.
Trump called out Yasir Al-Rumayyan — an organizer of the conference who heads Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — and said, “I hope you’re going to be getting into the Abraham Accords finally.”
“Will you please go back and explain? It’s time now,” Trump said.
He then recalled purported conversations he had with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman where the US president unsuccessfully tried to convince Riyadh to join the Abraham Accords.
“Mohammed would say, ‘Oh yes (we will join). As soon as we do this. As soon as we do that,’” Trump recalled.
“I said, ‘Mohammed, we did that.’ He’d say, ‘Oh yes, but we have a couple of other things.’”
“It’s now time. We’ve now taken them out, and they are out bigly. We’ve got to get into the Abraham Accords,” Trump continued, expressing his hope that other countries will follow.
The president has long been convinced that Iran’s perceived regional dominance has been the only factor keeping countries from joining the Abraham Accords, ostensibly downplaying potential members repeated insistence that they will not join the alliance absent a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Source:
www.timesofisrael.com
