With the conflict in its fifth week and Trump under pressure for an off-ramp amid rising gasoline prices, ‌the president scheduled a 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) speech to discuss the way forward. His address will end a day that began with Trump making a historic visit to the Supreme Court.

Trump, in a phone interview with Reuters, said one element of his speech would be to express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance’s lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran.

A transatlantic rift in Trump’s second term deepened after European allies rebuffed ​his request to help maintain safe passage for oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

He said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from NATO, a treaty organization ratified by ​the U.S. Senate in 1949. Trump has flirted with a withdrawal in the past and has successfully pressured NATO members to increase their defense ⁠spending.

“They haven’t been friends when we needed them,” Trump said. “We’ve never asked them for much … it’s a one-way street.”

Trump and his top officials have offered a variety of timelines for ending ​the war. He said on Tuesday that the U.S. could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks.

In the Reuters interview, he declined to provide a timeline.

“I can’t tell you ​exactly … we’re going to be out pretty quickly,” he said, adding that once a U.S. exit is achieved, “we’ll come back to do spot hits” on Iranian targets as needed.

‘WE GOT REGIME CHANGE’

The war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and causing soaring energy prices that have fueled global inflation fears.

Two-thirds of Americans believe that the U.S. should work to end its involvement in the Iran war quickly, even if that means ​not achieving the goals set out by the Trump administration, found a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Friday to Sunday.

Trump said he hoped for a deal with Iran after the first wave of ​airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A number of other senior Iranian figures have also been killed.

Mojtaba Khamenei has replaced his father as Iran’s supreme leader; the U.S. has said it believes he is wounded and ‌likely disfigured. ⁠The country’s president and foreign minister remain the same as before the conflict.

Trump said Iran’s leadership was now “totally different people.”

“I didn’t need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change and the big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” said Trump, adding: “Nor do they want one.”

The White House has said behind-the-scenes negotiations are ongoing with Iran, a point that Tehran denies. A source briefed on the matter said Vice President JD Vance was talking to intermediaries from Pakistan about the conflict ​as recently as Tuesday.

At Trump’s direction, Vance signaled ​privately that Trump was open to a ⁠ceasefire as long as certain U.S. demands were met, the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

“We have had full regime change,” Trump said. “I’m dealing with a very good chance that we’ll make a deal because they don’t want to be blasted anymore.”

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Trump has said a primary aim of launching ​the war was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Almost half of Iran’s uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short ​step from weapons-grade, was ⁠stored in a tunnel complex at Isfahan and is probably still there, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said earlier this month.

The tunnel complex is the only target that appears not to have been badly damaged in attacks last June by Israel and the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump said the objective of preventing a nuclear weapon has been achieved, however.

Of the enriched uranium, Trump said: “That’s so far ⁠underground, I ​don’t care about that.”

“We’ll always be watching it by satellite,” he added.

He said Iran was “incapable” of developing a weapon ​now.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that when Israel launched its first attacks in June, Iran had 440.9 kg of 60% uranium. If enriched ​further, that would provide the explosive needed for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.

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The casualties occurred amid rapidly escalating military conflict in the Middle East after coordinated strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran. Officials say the broader conflict has already resulted in hundreds of deaths across the region and could continue for weeks.

According to the Department of Defense, the six service members were killed Sunday when an unmanned aerial attack struck the port area of Shuaiba in Kuwait. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation.

The soldiers were assigned to the Army Reserve’s 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa. The unit plays a critical logistical role, delivering supplies such as food, water, fuel and ammunition to U.S. forces and transporting equipment throughout operational areas.

Military officials confirmed the identities of five of the service members: Capt. Cody A. Khork, Sgt. Nicole M. Amor, Sgt. Declan J. Coady, Sgt. Noah L. Tietjens and Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien. The Defense Department also reported that Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan is believed to have been among those killed.

Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, head of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, expressed condolences to the families and emphasized the importance of their service.

“Their commitment to duty and the sacrifices made by their loved ones will always be remembered,” Harter said in a statement.

Sgt. Noah L. Tietjens

Sgt. Noah Tietjens, 42, grew up in a family with strong ties to the military and enlisted in the early 2000s. Over the course of his career he served multiple overseas deployments, including missions in Iraq and Kuwait.

His twin brother, Nicholas Tietjens, said Noah had hoped to finish his latest assignment and return home within a few months.

Tietjens leaves behind his wife and teenage son. Outside of the military, he was passionate about martial arts and had become a certified instructor. Those close to him said he hoped to one day open a martial arts school in his Nebraska hometown.

Friends described him as calm and dependable, someone who naturally stepped in to help whenever needed.

Capt. Cody A. Khork

Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Lakeland, Florida, began his military journey in the National Guard in 2009 before later becoming a commissioned officer in the Army Reserve.

His family said he believed strongly in serving his country and carried that sense of responsibility throughout his life.

Khork deployed to several locations during his career, including Saudi Arabia, Poland and Guantánamo Bay. His service earned him multiple commendations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.

Loved ones said his dedication to duty was matched only by his devotion to family and friends.

Sgt. Nicole M. Amor

Sgt. Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had nearly two decades of military service.

According to her brother, she had been thinking about stepping away from the military after completing her most recent deployment so she could spend more time with her children.

Amor joined the National Guard in 2005 before transitioning to the Army Reserve. She previously deployed to Iraq and later Kuwait, where she worked in logistics operations.

Her brother said she often spoke about how much she missed her children while serving overseas.

Sgt. Declan J. Coady

Sgt. Declan Coady, who was posthumously promoted from specialist, was only 20 years old.

Originally from Iowa, he was attending Drake University in Des Moines as a sophomore at the time of his death.

Family members described him as intelligent and thoughtful, someone who could speak enthusiastically about topics he cared about. He had been active in scouting and enjoyed fencing, video games and fitness.

His sister said he had always been a steady presence in their family despite his young age.

Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien

Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, lived in Waukee, Iowa. He joined the Army Reserve as a signal corps officer in 2012.

Throughout his service, he received multiple awards recognizing his contributions and leadership.

O’Brien had previously deployed to Kuwait in 2019 and continued serving in various operational roles within the Reserve.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, was present during the attack in Kuwait. Military officials believe he was among those killed, though final confirmation is pending completion of a medical examiner’s investigation.

Conflict Continues

The deaths come as tensions across the Middle East intensify following recent military actions targeting Iranian facilities and leadership.

Officials in Washington have warned that further casualties may occur as the conflict develops.

For the families of the six service members, however, the focus remains on remembering their loved ones — not only for their military service but for the lives they lived beyond the uniform.

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For nearly a half century, the world has witnessed an enmity for the ages — the threats, the plotting, the poisonous rhetoric between the “Great Satan” of Iranian lore and the “Axis of Evil” troublemaker of the Middle East, in America’s eyes.

Now we have a U.S. president saying, of all things, “God bless Iran.”

This change of tone, however fleeting, came after the intense U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear-development sites this week, Iran’s retaliatory yet restrained attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar and the tentative ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump in the Israel-Iran war.

The U.S. attack on three targets inflicted serious damage but did not destroy them, a U.S. intelligence report found, contradicting Trump’s assertion that the attack “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.

Here are some questions and answers about the long history of bad blood between the two countries:

Why did Trump offer blessings all around?

In the first blush of a ceasefire agreement, even before Israel and Iran appeared to be fully on board, Trump exulted in the achievement. “God bless Israel,” he posted on social media. “God bless Iran.” He wished blessings on the Middle East, America and the world, too.

When it became clear that all hostilities had not immediately ceased after all, he took to swearing instead.

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” he said on camera.

In that moment, Trump was especially critical of Israel, the steadfast U.S. ally, for seeming less attached to the pause in fighting than the country that has been shouting “Death to America” for generations and is accused of trying to assassinate him.

Why did U.S.-Iran relations sour in the first place?

In two words, Operation Ajax.

That was the 1953 coup orchestrated by the CIA, with British support, that overthrew Iran’s democratically elected government and handed power to the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Western powers had feared the rise of Soviet influence and the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry.

The shah was a strategic U.S. ally who repaired official relations with Washington. But grievances simmered among Iranians over his autocratic rule and his bowing to America’s interests.

All of that boiled over in 1979 when the shah fled the country and the theocratic revolutionaries took control, imposing their own hard line.

How did the Iranian revolution deepen tensions?

Profoundly.

On Nov. 4, 1979, with anti-American sentiment at a fever pitch, Iranian students took 66 American diplomats and citizens hostage and held more than 50 of them in captivity for 444 days.

It was a humiliating spectacle for the United States and President Jimmy Carter, who ordered a secret rescue mission months into the Iran hostage crisis. In Operation Eagle Claw, eight Navy helicopters and six Air Force transport planes were sent to rendezvous in the Iranian desert. A sand storm aborted the mission and eight service members died when a helicopter crashed into a C-120 refueling plane.

Diplomatic ties were severed in 1980 and remain broken.

Iran released the hostages minutes after Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 1981. That was just long enough to ensure that Carter, bogged in the crisis for over a year, would not see them freed in his term.

Was this week’s U.S. attack the first against Iran?

No. But the last big one was at sea.

On April 18, 1988, the U.S. Navy sank two Iranian ships, damaged another and destroyed two surveillance platforms in its largest surface engagement since World War II. Operation Praying Mantis was in retaliation against the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf four days earlier. Ten sailors were injured and the explosion left a gaping hole in the hull.

Did the U.S. take sides in the Iran-Iraq war?

Not officially, but essentially.

The U.S. provided economic aid, intelligence sharing and military-adjacent technology to Iraq, concerned that an Iranian victory would spread instability through the region and strain oil supplies. Iran and Iraq emerged from the 1980-1988 war with no clear victor and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, while U.S.-Iraq relations fractured spectacularly in the years after.

What was the Iran-Contra affair?

An example of U.S.-Iran cooperation of sorts — an illegal, and secret, one until it wasn’t.

Not long after the U.S. designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism in 1984 — a status that remains — it emerged that America was illicitly selling arms to Iran. One purpose was to win the release of hostages in Lebanon under the control of Iran-backed Hezbollah. The other was to raise secret money for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua in defiance of a U.S. ban on supporting them.

President Ronald Reagan fumbled his way through the scandal but emerged unscathed — legally if not reputationally.

How many nations does the U.S. designate as state sponsors of terrorism?

Only four: Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Syria.

The designation makes those countries the target of broad sanctions. Syria’s designation is being reviewed in light of the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

Where did the term ‘Axis of Evil’ come from?

From President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address. He spoke five months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the year before he launched the invasion of Iraq on the wrong premise that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

He singled out Iran, North Korea and Saddam’s Iraq and said: “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”

In response, Iran and some of its anti-American proxies and allies in the region took to calling their informal coalition an Axis of Resistance at times.

What about those proxies and allies?

Some, like Hezbollah and Hamas, are degraded due to Israel’s fierce and sustained assault on them. In Syria, Assad fled to safety in Moscow after losing power to rebels once tied to al-Qaida but now cautiously welcomed by Trump.

In Yemen, Houthi rebels who have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and pledged common cause with Palestinians have been bombed by the U.S. and Britain. In Iraq, armed Shia factions controlled or supported by Iran still operate and attract periodic attacks from the United States.

What about Iran’s nuclear program?

In 2015, President Barack Obama and other powers struck a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear development in return for the easing of sanctions. Iran agreed to get rid of an enriched uranium stockpile, dismantle most centrifuges and give international inspectors more access to see what it was doing.

Trump assailed the deal in his 2016 campaign and scrapped it two years later as president, imposing a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions. He argued the deal only delayed the development of nuclear weapons and did nothing to restrain Iran’s aggression in the region. Iran’s nuclear program resumed over time and, according to inspectors, accelerated in recent months.

Trump’s exit from the nuclear deal brought a warning from Hassan Rouhani, then Iran’s president, in 2018: “America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace. And war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”

How did Trump respond to Iran’s provocations?

In January 2020, Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top commander, when he was in Iraq.

Then Iran came after him, according to President Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland. Days after Trump won last year’s election, the Justice Department filed charges against an Iranian man believed to still be in his country and two alleged associates in New York.

“The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump,” Garland said.

Now, Trump is seeking peace at the table after ordering bombs dropped on Iran, and offering blessings.

It is potentially the mother of all turnarounds.

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