US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States will be "out of Iran pretty quickly" and could return for "spot hits" if needed.
Trump made the comments in a phone interview with Reuters hours before he was scheduled to deliver a primetime address to the nation about the ongoing war with Iran. The speech is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday night.
In the interview, Trump said one element of his speech would be to express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance's lack of support for US objectives in Iran.
Trump said he was "absolutely" considering withdrawing the United States from NATO, a treaty organization ratified by the US Senate in 1949. Trump has previously flirted with a withdrawal and has successfully pressured NATO members to increase their defense spending.
"They haven't been friends when we needed them," Trump told Reuters. "We've never asked them for much ... it's a one-way street."
Trump and his top officials have offered a variety of timelines for ending the war. He said on Tuesday that the US could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks.
In the Reuters interview, he declined to provide a specific timeline.
"I can't tell you exactly ... we're going to be out pretty quickly," he said, adding that once a US exit is achieved, "we'll come back to do spot hits" on Iranian targets as needed.
Trump said he hoped for a deal with Iran after the first wave of airstrikes eliminated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as a number of other senior Iranian figures.
Mojtaba Khamenei has replaced his father as Iran's supreme leader. The US has said it believes he is wounded and likely disfigured. The country's president and foreign minister remain the same as before the conflict.
Trump said Iran's leadership was now "totally different people."
"I didn't need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change and the big thing we have is they're not going to have a nuclear weapon," Trump told Reuters, adding, "Nor do they want one."
"We have had full regime change," Trump said. "I'm dealing with a very good chance that we'll make a deal because they don't want to be blasted anymore."
Trump has said a primary aim of launching the war was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. He told Reuters that objective has been achieved.
Of Iran’s enriched uranium, Trump said: "That's so far underground, I don't care about that", adding, "We'll always be watching it by satellite."
He said Iran was "incapable" of developing a weapon now.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had asked for a ceasefire.
Trump set a condition for the ceasefire: "We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!"
Iran denied Trump’s claim, with its Foreign Ministry calling it "false and baseless."
In a separate statement, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that the Strait of Hormuz "is firmly and decisively under the control" of its forces.
"This strait will not be opened to the enemies of this nation through the ridiculous spectacle by the president of the United States," it added.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Passover in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)