By Townhall Chicago News Staff
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States is pursuing “total victory” against Iran, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said economic pressure has reduced the need for further military action.
The remarks came as Peter Doran, an adjunct senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued in a separate interview that the conflict with Iran remains unresolved.
Trump, speaking in a Veterans Day address, said, “We want to make sure we have a total victory, not a 93% victory.” He said it would “take them 25 years to rebuild back what we have destroyed.”
Rubio said combat operations are no longer necessary given current pressure on Iran’s economy. “The president really doesn’t have any need to conduct major combat operations,” Rubio said. “As of now, there’s really no need for major combat operations any longer because the blockade and the economic sanctions are doing devastation to their economy.”
Doran, a former president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, disputed the administration’s characterization of the conflict as resolved. “Clearly that is not the case,” Doran said, adding that a breakthrough remains “months away.”
“The moment you begin something like this, you must finish it,” Doran said.
Doran also said that insurance premiums tied to shipping risk are keeping oil prices elevated, a claim that runs counter to administration statements about oil flowing freely from the region. He said he wants to “get out of La La land” regarding how the conflict is being described publicly, and he criticized a reported memorandum of understanding with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Other claims raised in connection with the discussion — including a reported cost of 18 American lives, alleged assassination plots against administration officials and a reported tanker attack — were not confirmed through official channels and could not be verified against primary sources.
Rubio’s exact title and the full context of his remarks were not independently confirmed. The Trump administration has not issued a written statement summarizing its current Iran strategy.
