Trump seeks ‘total victory’ over Iran

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that the conflict with Iran would end soon but insisted Washington wanted "a total victory", offering no date for ending the campaign as he defended his administration's use of military force during a Veterans Day address.

Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday (local time), Trump claimed American forces had already won and portrayed the timing of an end to the conflict as a decision for Washington.

"We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93 per cent victory. It's going to be total," he said, according to a transcript circulated by the White House foreign press pool.

His remarks combined a prediction that the conflict would soon end with an insistence that the United States would not settle for an incomplete result.

He thanked American service members engaged in operations intended to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, presenting that objective as central to the campaign.

Trump also claimed Iran would need decades to recover from the destruction inflicted by American forces.

"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.

He offered no supporting assessment for that reconstruction estimate in the foreign-policy portion of the address. The remarks did not announce a negotiated settlement or a new timetable for withdrawing American forces.

The president defended the campaign as a response to decades of Iranian hostility, arguing that previous administrations should have confronted Tehran earlier.

"This should have been taken care of a long time ago," he said.

Trump compared the campaign with earlier American wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, emphasising their duration and human cost. He argued that those conflicts had delivered little in return for the United States.

Trump said the world would be safer once the conflict ended. He praised the bravery and skill of American forces while leaving unresolved when Washington would regard its objectives as fully achieved.

Trump recognised veterans from several generations and pledged continued support after their time in uniform.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth received loud cheers when Trump introduced him. Trump praised his performance before continuing his tribute to those assembled at the cemetery.

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