TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - US President Donald Trump said the US will be done with its war in Iran "within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. But we want to knock out every single thing they have."
Despite repeatedly listing four or five objectives for the war, Trump said he "had one goal: They will have no nuclear weapon and that goal has been attained." He did not explain how he felt that goal had been reached.
He added the US may strike a deal with Iran before the next few weeks are up but said, if not, "We'll hit some bridges, got a couple of nice bridges in mind. But if they come to the table, that'll be good."
Trump also said Washington will have nothing to do with reopening the Strait of Hormuz. His comments come after he criticized US allies for not doing more to help secure shipping in the strait.
Plus, the Iranian foreign minister said in an interview with news network Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Iran had not responded to a 15-point proposal sent by the US to end the war.
Abbas Araghchi said he had received a direct message from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, but denied the countries were negotiating.
US to 'reexamine' relationship with NATO
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington "is going to have to reexamine" its relationship with NATO once the Iran war has ended.
"I think there's no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship. We're going to have to reexamine the value of NATO in that alliance for our country," Rubio told the Fox News cable network.
He added that it would "ultimately" be a decision for President Donald Trump to make. The top US diplomat said he had been "one of the strongest defenders of NATO" while he was in the US Senate because he "found great value in it."
Much of that value was in having military bases in Europe that allowed the US military "to project power into different parts of the world," Rubio said.
"If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means that we can't use those bases, that in fact we can no longer use those bases to defend America's interests, then NATO is a one-way street," he added.
Trump has regularly lashed out at NATO allies throughout the conflict as many of them (NATO has 32 member states, of which 30 are European nations) have broadly resisted calls to enter the war.
France has called for a diplomatic solution to the war, joining Germany and the UK in pressing the US to pursue negotiations with Iran since the onset of the conflict.
Read: US Deploys More Troops to Middle East amid War with Iran
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
:strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/5491263/original/038261600_1770089716-wehrmann_j.jpg)
:strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/5390165/original/033586000_1761235850-Persib_Bandung_1.jpeg)
