Trump to address nation on Iran war Wednesday night, White House says

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he expected that U.S. military forces will leave Iran in “two or three weeks.”

“We leave because there’s no reason for us to do this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll be ‌leaving very soon.”

Hours later, the White House said that Trump will deliver an address “to the nation to provide an important update on Iran” at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday.

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Trump, in his comments Tuesday, brushed aside the idea of having to reach a negotiated settlement to end the war, raising the prospect that the United States could just declare victory and end hostilities.

“Iran doesn’t have to make a deal,” Trump said. “It’s a new regime. They are much more accessible.”

“No, they don’t have to make a deal with me when we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages, and they won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon,” he said. “Then we’ll leave whether we have a deal or not. It’s irrelevant now. It’s possible that we’ll have a deal because they want to make a deal.”

“They want to make a deal more than I want to make a deal, but in a fairly short period of time will be finished,” the president said.

“Look what’s happening in Iran,” Trump said. “I mean, we’re totally unchecked. Everything’s been bombed out.”

“We’re hitting them very hard,” he said. “Last night, we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile-making facilities.”