Iran’s new supreme leader declared triumph over the United States in a Persian New Year message even as US warplanes continued striking targets across the country, while President Donald Trump signaled Friday he may be preparing to wind down American military operations in the region.
Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since succeeding his father Ali Khamenei, issued a written Nowruz statement saying his country has “dealt him (the enemy) a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense.” He added that “due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots… the enemy has been defeated.”
Trump, posting on Truth Social, offered a different reading of events. “I think we have won,” he told reporters at the White House separately on Friday. The president said he was not interested in a truce. “I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.”
His Truth Social post said the United States was “getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East” — the clearest public indication yet that an end to the fighting, which began February 28, may be approaching.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt followed up on X, writing that “the President and the Pentagon predicted it would take approximately 4-6 weeks to achieve this mission.” She added: “Tomorrow marks week 3 — and the US Armed Forces are doing an exceptional job. Day by day, the Iranian Regime is being crippled, and their ability to threaten the United States and our allies is being significantly weakened.”
According to AFP, the fighting has taken a severe toll on global energy markets. Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally moves — has sent crude prices sharply higher. North Sea Brent crude climbed 3.26 percent Friday to $112.19 per barrel, while Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on fears of prolonged supply disruption.
In response, the US Treasury announced a temporary sanctions carve-out allowing the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products already loaded onto vessels before March 20, with the authorization running through April 19. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move would “quickly bring approximately 140 million barrels of oil to global markets, expanding the amount of worldwide energy and helping to relieve the temporary pressures on supply caused by Iran.”
The wider conflict continued to expand Friday. Saudi Arabia said it “intercepted and destroyed” more than 20 Iranian drones over its eastern region early Saturday, while Israel reported a fresh wave of missiles fired from Iran. Earlier, drone attacks hit Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, triggering a fire that was later contained — a day after a direct strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan natural gas facility.
Fresh blasts struck Tehran on Friday, and Israel accused Iran of hitting holy sites in Jerusalem following a strike that left a crater near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City.
In Lebanon, the Israeli military said it launched early Saturday strikes on Beirut targeting Hezbollah, after calling on residents of several neighborhoods to evacuate. Turkey condemned Israeli strikes on Syrian army camps in southern Syria as a “dangerous escalation.” Syria has avoided being drawn directly into the wider conflict.
On the question of ground forces, Trump has repeatedly ruled out deploying troops in direct combat with Iran, though the Wall Street Journal reported that between 2,200 and 2,500 additional US Marines are heading to the region. Trump declined to confirm an Axios report that he was weighing an occupation or blockade of Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub. US forces have already struck Kharg, which Trump said had been “totally obliterated” of military targets, though its oil infrastructure has been left untouched.
Trump said the United States sought to engage Iran diplomatically but faced an obstacle: “there’s nobody to talk to,” citing the deaths of Iran’s former supreme leader and other senior officials in the conflict.
On Hormuz, Trump said the burden of securing the strait should fall on the countries that depend on it. “The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not!” he posted, while leaving open the possibility of American assistance if requested.
