5 takeaways from Trump’s news conference on Iran

President Trump came to the lectern of the White House briefing room Monday for a lengthy news conference about the war on Iran.

Trump, flanked by key allies including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, spent much of the first part of the event outlining how an airman who had been forced to eject from a fighter jet over Iran had been rescued.

But inevitably much of the attention in the jam-packed room — and in the wider world — focused on where the war goes next.

The U.S. and Israel have hit more than 11,000 targets since they began their assault on Feb. 28. But Tehran has proven defiant. 

Iran has also proven strategically adept at piling pressure on Trump by reducing shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz to a trickle, sending the price of oil — and price of gas at the pump — soaring.

Here are the big takeaways from Trump’s Monday appearance.

Mixed signals on what’s next

Trump’s propensity to give ambiguous — and sometimes plain confusing — messages on his strategy with respect to Iran is undimmed.

At times on Monday, he sounded a very ominous tone. 

He described how the United States had a plan, made possible by its military might, “where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business — burning, exploding and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12 o’clock.”

But, almost in the next breath, he suggested destruction on such a near-apocalyptic scale would be something he would prefer to avoid — in part because of the long-lasting economic damage that would result.

“We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation [after the war]. And you know what? If that’s the case, the last thing we want to do is start with power plants — which are among the most expensive thing — and bridges,” he said.

A lot of haziness hangs over whether there is any realistic hope of a ceasefire — never mind a permanent........

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