Washington, D.C., August 8 (ANI): Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has spent recent weeks privately advising senior U.S. President Donald Trump administration officials that the United States must seek an “off-ramp” from the conflict with Iran.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNN reported that Caine believes escalating military options could backfire and that airpower alone is unlikely to achieve President Donald Trump’s stated goals. Characterizing Caine’s posture, one source stated bluntly, “Caine is looking for an off-ramp,” CNN reported.
On the other hand, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) expressed confidence that the conflict involving Iran would end “pretty soon,” saying he believes the Islamic Republic “can’t go much longer.” He also voiced optimism over ongoing negotiations related to the Strait of Hormuz while reaffirming the commitment to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump said, “When I started the very important excursion into the Islamic Republic of Iran, it was a very important excursion because they can’t have a nuclear weapon, otherwise the whole world would get blown up. We’re not gonna let that happen. Not only us, not only the Middle East, the whole world would have been… It would have been catastrophic. We had no choice… We will see those days pretty soon again, based on everything I see, as soon as the war ends. And I think the war’s got to end pretty soon. I don’t think they can go much longer.”
Trump also expressed optimism about negotiations concerning the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes for oil shipments.
On a possible agreement between the U.S. and Iran, Trump said, “I don’t want to say it has been… it’s sort of open right now. We have a thing called the blockade headed up by the U.S. Navy, and we control it. But they can always shoot something or drop a mine… if you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up because people don’t want to take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine. But I think we’re doing very well. I am involved in the negotiations. I think we are doing fine… it could be soon.”
Additionally, in an interview with Fox News, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would continue using military, economic and diplomatic tools to secure a favorable outcome while maintaining that Iran would never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Notably, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Tuesday (local time) rejected a media report claiming that the Pentagon’s missile defense stockpiles had fallen to dangerously low levels.
In a post on X, Hegseth wrote, “That banner is NOT TRUE, @CNN. Shame on you. We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.”
His remarks came after CNN reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, that the U.S. military had exhausted nearly 80% of its inventory of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and around half of its Patriot missile interceptors since the conflict with Iran began.
However, Iran’s Acting Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Majid Ebn-e-Reza said the country’s Armed Forces were fully prepared to counter any external threat, stressing that Iran’s military readiness was backed by its domestic defense industry.
Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on the other hand, accused Washington of pursuing “theater diplomacy” and rejected what he described as U.S. pressure tactics.
The developments come amid continued uncertainty over renewed U.S.-Iran diplomacy following the collapse of the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding signed in June to halt hostilities. (ANI)
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