WASHINGTON, November 2026 : US President Donald Trump has said the conflict with Iran could end soon but insisted that Washington would settle for nothing less than a “total victory”, offering no timeline for ending the military campaign during a Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery.
Speaking on Wednesday (local time), Trump claimed American forces had already secured victory and said the decision on when to end the conflict rested with the United States. However, he made clear that Washington wanted to achieve all its objectives before bringing the campaign to a close.
“We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 per cent victory. It's going to be total,” Trump said, according to a transcript circulated by the White House foreign press pool.
The president thanked US service members involved in military operations aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, describing the objective as central to the campaign. He also claimed that the damage inflicted by American forces would take Iran decades to repair.
“It'll take them 25 years to rebuild back what we have destroyed, and hopefully, we won’t have to destroy any more of that country,” he said.
Trump did not provide an assessment to support the 25-year reconstruction estimate. His address also contained no announcement of a negotiated settlement or a timetable for withdrawing American forces.
Defending the military campaign, the president argued that previous US administrations should have confronted Iran much earlier, citing what he described as decades of hostility from Tehran.
“This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” he said.
Trump also compared the ongoing conflict with previous American military engagements in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Highlighting the duration and human costs of those wars, he questioned the returns they had delivered for the United States.
He maintained that the world would be safer once the conflict with Iran ended, while praising the courage, professionalism and capabilities of American military personnel. However, he did not clarify what conditions would constitute the complete victory he has demanded or when Washington would consider its objectives fulfilled.
The Veterans Day address also included a tribute to former members of the armed forces from different generations. Trump pledged continued support for veterans after their service in uniform.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth received loud applause when introduced by the president. Trump praised Hegseth's performance before continuing his tribute to veterans and serving military personnel.
While Trump expressed confidence that the conflict would end soon, his insistence on achieving a total victory left the timeline and final terms of the US military campaign uncertain.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
