A week ago, President Donald Trump told Britain not to bother sending ships to the Middle East because he’d already won the Iran war. Wars are not defined by their first few weeksIt remains too early to judge the overall impact of the war. His remarks are likely to be seen abroad as a demand for help in fixing a mess he created by waging war on Iran. Trump opened the war by telling Iranians he was giving them a once-in-a-lifetime chance to throw off repression. Domestically, there is likely to be skepticism outside Trump’s fiercely loyal base over predictions that the war will end within weeks.

Source: CNN March 16, 2026 11:13 UTC