On Monday, Donald Trump held the first press conference since the US-Israel joint strikes on Iran began. While speaking to the reporters, the president revealed that the war will end “very soon.” He also claimed that the U.S. military is achieving “major strides toward completing our military objective,” despite the seven confirmed American casualties.
However, critics couldn’t help but notice that his statements were very contradictory. Trump’s rhetoric about the Iran conflict has been confusing even before the first attacks began. On Monday, he further confused people with his different statements on the same subjects within a matter of just a few hours.
The most confusing remarks were about the duration of the war, or more clearly, when it could end. In an initial interview with CBS News, the president announced, “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”
Trump says the Iran conflict is “very complete, pretty much.”
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/T0KN7LOPoq
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 9, 2026
However, around that very same time, the Rapid Response account on X (formerly Twitter) posted, “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.” It is in line with what the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said just days ago. On a CBS “60 Minutes” segment, he emphasized, “This is only just the beginning.”
On Monday, Donald Trump further stirred the confusion. Earlier Monday, while speaking to House Republicans in Florida, he said, “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
Then, at the news conference, he said, “We’ll not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. We could call it a tremendous success right now — as we leave here, I could call it. Or we could go further, and we’re going to go further,” according to CBS News.
So, critics ask, what is it: is the war in Iran over or not?
That’s not all, Trump repeatedly contradicted himself while speaking about Iran’s firepower. During the CBS phone interview, he suggested that Iran has “no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.”
.@POTUS on Iran: “They have no navy, they have no air force… and they have no leadership… We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here… or we could go further… but the big risk on that war has been over… we wiped them out in the first two days.” pic.twitter.com/uszgOpHZSr
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 9, 2026
“They’ve shot everything they have to shoot. If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense,” he said. During the Monday press conference, he emphasized the same thing, saying, “They have no radar, they have no telecommunications. … It’s all gone.”
But later, he said, “Most of Iran’s naval power has been sunk,” despite claiming earlier that they have “no navy.” During the House Republicans’ address, he claimed that the U.S. military had sunk 46 Iranian ships, but then during the press conference, he claimed that it was 50 and 51.
The President also delivered confusing remarks on the Iranian leadership. At the new conference, he initially claimed, “Everything they have is gone, including their leadership.”
However, then he explained that “two levels of leadership is gone.” Despite Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei being a familiar name, he claimed, “most people have never even heard about the leaders that they’re talking about.”
Despite claiming earlier that Iran “had no leadership,” he basically contradicted himself minutes later. “I was disappointed, because we think it’s going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country,” said Trump. “So I was disappointed to see their choice.”
