Donald Trump says he is in no hurry to end war with Iran

President Donald Trump declared on August 17 that he has no definitive timeline for concluding the US war with Iran, a conflict that has now dragged on for nearly six months and sent global energy markets into sustained turmoil. His message to Tehran was blunt: surrender. “Put up the white flag of surrender,” Trump said, framing the war not as a negotiation to be resolved but as a contest to be won outright. Six months and counting The war began on February 28, 2026, when joint US-Israeli military strikes targeted Iran in what Washington dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” and Israel called “Operation Roaring Lion.” The operations were launched in response to what both governments characterized as escalating threats from Tehran. Since then, the conflict has followed a grim pattern: strikes, blockades, intermittent ceasefire attempts, and breakdowns. A memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran, designed to revive stalled peace negotiations, expired in June without producing any resolution. The Strait of Hormuz problem At the center of the geopolitical chess match sits the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes through on any given day. Mili...