Trump reportedly warned by advisers Iran conflict could last beyond his presidency

Top White House advisers, including US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned President Donald Trump that the conflict with Iran could extend through the remainder of his presidency, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing US officials.

The report said Vance, Rubio and other officials have told Trump that Iran could continue holding out against American economic and military pressure, extending the conflict beyond the US presidential inauguration in January 2029.

“President Trump has destroyed Iran’s military capabilities and is crippling what’s left of its abysmal economy with the most powerful naval blockade in world history and crushing sanctions,” a White House spokesperson told the newspaper in response. “Only President Trump knows what he will do and when.”

The reported warning contrasts with Trump’s own public remarks about the war. The president on Wednesday predicted the war with Iran would end “immediately after” the US midterm elections in November because Tehran was trying to influence the vote but would not be able to withstand American economic pressure.

“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” he told reporters before departing for the Republican National Convention in Dallas.

The US-Israel war with Iran, which recently entered its seventh month, has no immediate end in sight. On Wednesday, Iran said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also fired missiles at US ally Jordan, damaging multiple American military aircraft at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, CBS reported.

One A-10 Thunderbolt, known as the Warthog, was struck and left with a missing wing, while roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were placed back into service, the networked added. There were no reports of casualties in the attack.

The renewed fighting sent the price of oil surging with benchmark Brent crude future breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July.

Trump’s approval ratings recently sank to a record low due to frustration from voters over the Iran war and deepening cost-of-living crisis. Midterm elections, due to be held on November 3 this year, are typically a referendum on the occupant of the White House.

Oil prices would also come down right after the election, Trump said on Wednesday, once the war is over, while acknowledging diplomatic talks are still a possibility but not preferred.

“Yes, a negotiation could possible happen, but it’s not something we’re looking at,” Trump said.

‘The entire axis will ultimately collapse’

Echoing Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday claimed Iran was close to defeat, the third such declaration he has made in the past week.

Speaking from the Mount Hermon summit in Syrian territory that the IDF has held since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in late 2024, Netanyahu added that Israel will not let a “terrorist army” establish itself on the border, in an apparent reference to the buffer zone Israel holds in Syria.

“We will not allow any terrorist army to establish itself along our border, and this is one of the greatest achievements we have accomplished in the War of Revival,” said Netanyahu, using the term he coined for the multifront war that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

There is more work to do, said Netanyahu: “The main task is to defeat the terrorist regime in Iran. We are very close to it. We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse.”

“We are committed to doing this, and we will do it,” he concluded.

Israel and the US launched a war against the Iranian regime in late February and while the United States and Iran have continued to exchange fire, the fighting between Israel and the Islamic Republic largely stopped in April.

Despite the assertions by Trump and Netanyahu that victory over Iran was near, Iran continued to strike a defiant tone. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday said the war could end if Washington stopped threatening the Islamic Republic and met Tehran’s conditions, which include a halt to interference in its nuclear program and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

“If the enemy wants an end to this situation, it must, while completely stopping the war, refrain from renewed threats, withdraw the Israeli regime’s army from Lebanon, end the blockade of Yemen, release $24 billion in Iran’s frozen assets and refrain from any interference in the country’s nuclear and missile capabilities,” IRGC Spokesman Hossein Mohebi said, according to the Fars news agency.

Those demands, however, were likely a nonstarter. Israel has repeatedly vowed that it will not accede to Iranian demands to withdraw from the buffer zone the IDF holds in south Lebanon. Israel has demanded that Iran’s terror proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, be disarmed, and has held negotiations with the Lebanese government to that end.