US President Donald Trump will deliver a primetime address from the Oval Office Wednesday night to declare that the month-long war in Iran is winding down, Politico reported.
The address is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday.
The president has telegraphed that message in interviews, social media posts and public comments over the past 24 hours, laying the groundwork for a speech that is expected to claim that all military objectives have been met, according to six people familiar with the planning who spoke to Politico.
He also intends to harshly criticize NATO allies for the biggest unresolved matter of the war, Iran’s ongoing restrictions of shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist, said the president will essentially declare victory, laying out what he’s achieved in Iran and what he will do before the US leaves along with “dumping on the NATO allies - it’s their issue."
“Two, three weeks, definable objectives. ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ - and we are hanging around a couple of weeks to conquer some more - maybe even then a ceasefire, while reiterating that the Hormuz situation is the Gulf Emirates’ and the Europeans’ to solve, and declare victory," he added.
The president’s first primetime address since the war began comes about two weeks ahead of an oft-repeated four-to-six-week timeline for military operations in Iran.
Although Trump has made several public statements declaring that indirect talks with Iran are making progress, there is little evidence that the two countries are anywhere close to an agreement - and some in the Iranian regime continue to insist that no talks are happening at all.
In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump asserted that Iran “has asked…for a CEASEFIRE!" But he added a key condition for accepting: “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear."
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.
On Tuesday, after weeks of grumbling about NATO allies’ reluctance to send forces to Iran, Trump urged European allies to “build up some delayed courage" and “go get your own oil!" Hours later, the attacks ratcheted up further with the president threatening to formally withdraw the US from the alliance altogether. In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper in Britain, Trump called NATO a “paper tiger" and said he was reconsidering America’s role as the linchpin of the transatlantic alliance.
A senior White House official, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Politico that the president’s growing anger “is very real," especially as European countries, including Italy and the United Kingdom, have barred American forces involved in the Iran war from using their bases and airspace.
“A possible withdrawal from NATO is just an attempt to reconsider the terms of providing security guarantees to Europe by the United States," the senior official said. “The United States will no longer protect its allies through a common ideology and values - only for money, economic, and political concessions."
(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.)