Why is Trump starting to talk about ending the war against Iran soon?

While US President Donald Trump, after a telephone conversation with the President of Russia at the initiative of the US, announces the end of the war with Iran soon, and the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsett declares that the US will end the war with Iran “according to its schedule”, international press releases and statements from Iran show that Iran is not going to back down and is toughening its rhetoric.

First of all, let’s remind that on March 10 US President announced that the war was “almost completely over”. Trump also noted that “we have already won in many ways, but we have not won enough”.

Unlike Trump, Hegsett said that the US would not withdraw from the war with Iran until “the enemy is completely and decisively defeated”.

“As President Trump announced yesterday, we are defeating the enemy by demonstrating technical skills and military power,” Hegsett said. According to him, Iran’s leaders are “desperate and in a hurry” because the war has been going on for the second week. Meanwhile, the United States intends to attack Iran’s missile potential, navy and military industrial bases.

On March 9, at the initiative of the American side, US President Trump had a telephone conversation with Russian President Putin. Yuri Ushakov, assistant to the Russian president, informed that Trump called Putin to discuss “a number of extremely important topics related to the current developments of the international situation.”

The main topics of the conversation were the conflict with Iran and the tripartite negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement with the participation of US representatives.

Ushakov said that Putin expressed a number of considerations aimed at the speedy political-diplomatic settlement of the Iranian conflict, including taking into account the contacts he had with the leaders of the Persian Gulf countries, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and leaders of a number of other countries.

According to him, Trump gave his assessment of the development of the situation in the context of the ongoing American-Israeli operation. “I would like to note that there was quite a substantive and, I think, not useless exchange of ideas on this issue,” said the president’s assistant.

Parallel to all this, Lebanese «Al Mayadeen» The TV channel, referring to its sources, wrote that Iran does not accept the mediation initiatives regarding the ceasefire and puts forward its own conditions for starting negotiations with the USA. “Iran rejects all mediation initiatives regarding the cease-fire, because it has conditions and wants to receive real guarantees,” the message states.

According to the TV channel, the leadership of the Islamic Republic rejects the current proposals of the mediators, as it considers them insufficient and insists on clearer obligations. In particular, Tehran demands from the US.

• Guarantees of non-aggression in the future,
• Compensation payment,
• An agreement that Iran will be able to implement a complete nuclear fuel cycle at its nuclear power facilities.

Bloomberg the agency also writes that the US armed forces faced serious difficulties in the confrontation with Iran due to the large arsenal of missiles and drones of the Islamic Republic. According to the newspaper, almost two weeks after the start of the conflict, the US military is forced to actively spend expensive interceptor missiles to repel Iranian attacks, and despite the Pentagon’s statements that the number of strikes has been reduced by about 80 percent, Tehran continues to launch daily attacks on military facilities and energy infrastructure in the Middle East.

Bloomberg notes that Iran has accumulated stocks of missiles and drones for years, deploying them in different regions of the country. Ballistic missiles are able to overcome the air defense systems of US allies, and cheap Shahed type drones force the use of expensive air defense systems. According to the publication, some Iranian systems prevent the US from establishing full control over Iran’s airspace.

“Unable to achieve absolute superiority in the air, the American military is using long-range missiles more actively. According to Bloomberg, several hundred Tomahawk missiles were used during the first hundred hours of combat operations.

The agency points out that the production of such weapons is limited. According to former Pentagon employee Elaine McCusker, less than a hundred Tomahawk missiles are released annually, so it may take years to replenish the stockpile. Earlier The New York Timesalso wrote that the use of cheap drones by Iran leads to the rapid consumption of expensive missiles of the USA and its allies.

According to the periodicals, one Shahed-136 drone can cost 20-50 thousand dollars, while one missile of the Patriot complex costs more than 3 million dollars. US officials estimate US costs in the first week of hostilities at about $6 billion. US Central Command (CENTCOM) according to data, during the first five days of the conflict, Iran launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and more than 2 thousand drones.

“168 Hours” in a conversation with Iranian analyst Khayal Muazzin expressed confidence that Iran is in control of the situation and is definitely not losing, if not the opposite, because, he said, the US is looking for ways to stop the war and save face.

According to him, this is shown by US diplomatic moves and contradictory statements. He believes that in Iran they are ready for any scenario, they have been preparing for war for a long time, so the war will most likely stop if Iran’s conditions are accepted.

“This is an extraordinary situation. Already for the second time, and this time also during very effective negotiations, they are attacking Iran, trying to surprise and defeat it.

The war was started by the US, but the situation is dictated by Iran, and the outcome depends on which side will be able to withstand how much and how. Iran is determined to respond to attacks by its adversaries, and is also determined to act clearly, targeting only the aggressors: Israel and American bases in the region, which embody the American presence in the Middle East region.

In addition, Iran stated that if there is an attack, Iran will perceive it as a full-scale war, and it has done so,” said Khayal Muazin. However, according to his observation, the general information background allows to claim that the West wants to stop all this.

“However, in Iran they understand that the issue should be thoroughly resolved,” said Khayal Muazin.

As for the South Caucasus region, in his opinion, the current course of the war stems from the interests of the region and Iran.

According to him, if problems arise with Iran, the first consequences will most likely be felt by Armenia, which has Iran’s support in all matters.

“It is obvious that if Iran weakens, Armenia will not benefit from it, other forces will benefit from it, which is not in Armenia’s interests. Therefore, Iran should continue its clear policy for its own sake and regional stability,” Khayal Muazzin said.

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