Kamal Ghorui
When will the Iran war end? The crisis in the region scaled-up after heavy joint military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, which killed Iran’s longest-serving Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the initial strikes of a Donald Trump designed operation and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Speaking to The Times of Israel on Sunday, US President Trump said the decision to end the war with Tehran would be taken “mutually” in consultation with Netanyahu, one of Washington’s closest allies in the Middle East.In the brief telephonic interview, Trump also claimed that the Islamic Republic under Khamenei would have destroyed Israel if he and Netanyahu had not intervened.“Iran was going to destroy Israel and everything else around it… We’ve worked together. We’ve destroyed a country that wanted to destroy Israel,” he said.“I think it’s mutual… a little bit. We’ve been talking. I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” he responded, indicating that while Netanyahu will have input, the US president will make the final decision.When asked whether Israel could continue the war against Iran even after the US decides to stop its strikes, Trump avoided discussing the possibility and said, “I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”Trump has also avoided giving a clear timeline for how long the war will continue. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that Washington expects the conflict to last between four and six weeks.Trump’s remarks in the telephonic interview suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have major influence on his decision-making during the war. The US and Israel launched the joint military operation on February 28 with strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.Trump’s comments came hours after Iran announced that Ali Khamenei’s son, the hardline cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, would succeed him as the new leader of the Islamic Republic.
