US Lowers Its Sights in Iran War as Conflict Nears Six Months, CNN Says

CNN Analyzes Shift in US Objectives in Iran War

Signs Emerge That Washington Has Lowered Its Goals

The Trump administration has been lowering the goals it originally set in the war with Iran as the conflict stretches toward the six-month mark, CNN reported. At the outset, Washington spoke of Iran’s unconditional surrender, regime change and the permanent prevention of an Iranian nuclear weapon. More recently, the focus has shifted to stable oil prices and keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

CNN reported on August 16 that the administration’s hard-line war aims have narrowed noticeably as the conflict has dragged on.

The war began on February 28, when the US joined Israel in airstrikes on Iran.

Early in the conflict, the Trump administration set out goals that included Iran’s unconditional surrender, regime change, the permanent blocking of a nuclear weapon and an end to Tehran’s support for proxy forces in the Middle East.

But a memorandum of understanding on ending the war reached in mid-June later collapsed, and the fighting has effectively continued for nearly six months. CNN said that has led the administration to sharply scale back its original objectives.

Recent comments by Vice President JD Vance were cited as a signal of that shift.

Asked in a Fox News interview on August 14 how the war could end, Vance said, “The first goal is to keep oil and gas prices low for the American people,” adding that “the second goal is to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”

CNN highlighted Vance’s decision to put oil-price stability ahead of denuclearization.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said both goals were equally important to President Donald Trump. Even so, CNN said the remark differed from the White House’s earlier stance, which had consistently presented preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon as the top priority since the war began.

Trump made that hierarchy clear in May. Asked whether he would seek to resolve the war with Americans’ economic circumstances in mind, he said, “I don’t consider that at all,” signaling that denuclearization came first.

CNN said the administration’s growing emphasis on oil-price stability supports the view that Washington is recalibrating its goals to end the war on terms far short of those set at the start of the conflict.

The report also pointed to a shift in Trump’s recent remarks. Rather than insisting Iran hand over its enriched uranium, he has said Iran’s nuclear program has been hit hard, that nuclear material is buried too deep, and that it can be monitored from space. CNN said those comments suggested a lower threshold for US demands.

The report also noted that because the Strait of Hormuz had been open before Iran imposed its blockade, a goal of energy-price stability would in effect amount to restoring prewar conditions.

If the Trump administration is satisfied with returning to the prewar status quo, CNN said, that could amount to an admission that the conflict produced little tangible progress.

Kim Dae-young, Hankyung.com reporter kdy@hankyung.com