Trump offers few new details, vague timeline for Iran war

[0:00] because President Trump last night addressed the nation for the first time since starting a war with Iran. [0:05] The 20-minute speech was meant to sell Americans on why this conflict was necessary, [0:09] but he actually gave very few new details and repeated his vague timeline for when this war might end. [0:15] For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat. [0:23] The most violent and thuggish regime on Earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror, [0:29] coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield. [0:34] I will never let that happen, and neither should any of our past presidents. [0:41] This situation has been going on for 47 years and should have been handled long before I arrived in office. [0:51] Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home. [0:58] This short-term increase has been entirely the result. [1:01] The Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers [1:06] and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict. [1:10] This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons. [1:16] They will use them, and they will use them quickly. [1:18] Iran has been essentially decimated. [1:24] The hard part is done, so it should be easy. [1:27] And in any event, when this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. [1:32] It'll just open up naturally. [1:34] They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and rebuild. [1:39] It will resume the flowing, and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. [1:44] Stock prices will rapidly go back up. [1:47] I've made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. [1:56] Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. [2:06] We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. [2:11] We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. [2:16] So two to three more weeks, and notably he wasn't calling it a war instead of conflict. [2:21] We'll dig into that, why it's important. [2:24] But this felt to me like a speech that the president might have given at the start of this conflict, [2:29] explaining to an American public already skeptical of action in the Middle East why we had to do this in the first place. [2:35] Now we are five weeks. [2:36] Five weeks in, and the explanation is coming now, it's a bit muddy. [2:41] Meanwhile, Trump's threat to continue striking Iran for weeks sent shockwaves through the world's financial markets, [2:46] with oil prices surging and overseas markets plunging shortly after the president's address. [2:51] Asian markets reversed earlier gains with all major indexes down following Trump's speech. [2:57] Crude passed $100 a barrel after Trump promised to hit Iran extremely hard, [3:01] while also claiming the war was nearly over, but providing no concrete timeline, again, for an end to the fighting. [3:06] Meanwhile. [3:07] U.S. markets are poised to open in the red, with the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 futures all in negative territory ahead of the opening bell. [3:15] And oil prices continue to rise, with benchmark crude markets here and overseas remaining well above $100 a barrel. [3:25] And you heard the president at one point last night say it'll just open up when talking about the Strait of Hormuz. [3:30] Interested to see how that just might happen, but it comes as more than 30 countries will meet virtually today [3:35] to discuss ways to get heavy traffic moving again through that border. [3:38] The Associated Press reports today's meeting is considered a first step [3:43] to be followed up by working-level meetings of officials to hammer out the details. [3:47] Nearly all traffic in the waterway has been shut down due to mines and Iranian attacks on commercial ships. [3:52] The meeting will be chaired by the United Kingdom's foreign secretary. [3:55] The U.S. will not attend. [3:58] Meanwhile, missiles continue to rain down this morning across the Middle East, [4:02] as Iran remains defiant following the president's speech. [4:06] One Iranian official dismissing the remarks Trump made as insane, [4:10] while the country's military says the war will continue until the U.S. and Israel face permanent regret and surrender, [4:15] according to state TV. [4:17] Those words being followed up by attacks. [4:20] The Israeli military issued at least four reports of live fire in the early hours today, [4:24] following a barrage of strikes last night in Tel Aviv, [4:27] while citizens celebrated the first night of Passover. [4:30] Authorities in Abu Dhabi also say they intercepted a missile near an industrial hub this morning. [4:35] And the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is warning that Iran-backed militias may attack there, [4:39] attack there. [4:40] In the next 24 to 48 hours, urging Americans to leave the country. [4:46] Israel, meanwhile, continues to fire back, launching strikes toward Tehran, [4:50] as video shows streets lined with destruction and debris. [4:53] The Israeli military is ramping up its offensive in Lebanon as well, [4:57] with the country's health ministry saying yesterday more than 1,000 people there have been killed so far, [5:02] including more than 100 children. [5:05] The toll of war is so steep. [5:08] I want to bring in MSNOW White House reporter here on set with me, Akilah Gardner. [5:12] Akilah, I think the question that I was asking as I was watching the president's remarks [5:16] is why are they doing this now as opposed to at the start of the conflict? [5:22] It really felt to me like this could have been something that assuaged a skeptical public early on, maybe. [5:28] Yeah, I think a huge part of the reason why we're at this moment is about the next phase of the war. [5:34] There has been huge speculation whether the president could deploy troops on the ground. [5:38] He notably did not address that last night, but I think that is [5:41] really important. [5:42] I think that is really the next step and the next question that a lot of Americans have [5:45] is are we going to see more deaths of U.S. soldiers in this war? [5:48] And he didn't really speak to that. [5:50] One thing that I also thought was notable is before the president gave this speech, [5:54] I was told that he was going to be reiterating this two- to three-week timeline. [5:58] He did not exactly do that. [5:59] He said that we're going to be hitting hard in the next two to three weeks. [6:02] He did not say the conflict would end in two to three weeks. [6:04] And we're now at nearly the five-week mark. [6:08] And as recently as last week, the White House was saying that this could last [6:11] for as long as 40 days. [6:12] So we're really running up on the timeline that they themselves have laid out. [6:16] And so potentially this could be lasting longer than the original timeline that they've [6:20] projected to the American people. [6:22] And you also really had the president not seeming optimistic about diplomacy. [6:27] He had literally maybe one sentence in the entire speech where he said negotiations continue. [6:33] It seems as though his goal is really to just obliterate the shield of the nuclear [6:38] materials that they have. [6:40] And to me, that also suggested, [6:42] are there plans to actually extract that uranium that they seem to really want? [6:46] It seems like they're trying to move the goalposts to just attacking their Navy, [6:50] to their Air Force, their missile infrastructure. [6:52] And that is a huge question, because if you're going to continue to say that Iran is a nuclear [6:56] threat, then how are you going to eliminate that nuclear threat? [6:58] And he did not explain that last night. [7:00] It felt to me like we saw a preview of the benchmarks that the administration wanted [7:04] to point to as successful from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, even just a few days ago, [7:09] talking about hitting their Navy, [7:12] including their missile stockpiles, not really engaging with the question of the futures [7:15] of their nuclear program. [7:17] Rubio also did a fascinating sort of preamble to Trump's remarks last night. [7:22] I wonder what you make of them, what he said, how we should factor that into our thinking. [7:25] Yeah, that was new language that we saw, this language of the shield, the shield around [7:30] their nuclear materials. [7:32] And again, I think it really goes back to potentially that first speech that Trump gave [7:36] on True Social, where he laid out these various military targets. [7:40] But the president also, last night, said that the United States and the United States are [7:41] trying to move the goalposts up. [7:42] And he also last night said, we've achieved regime change, which is just not true. [7:46] We have the son of the former Supreme Leader in power, who many people say is potentially [7:51] more extreme than his father. [7:53] He also contradicted that and said potentially he's less extreme than the former leader. [7:58] It certainly seems as though they are trying to move the goalposts up, the president himself [8:02] laid out. [8:03] And in that first announcement, he said he called on the Iranian people to rise up against [8:08] their government. [8:09] And he has really backed off of that. [8:10] And I think there's a huge difference. [8:11] Yeah. [8:11] It's a huge question that now we are at 5,000 deaths in the region, and the Iranian people [8:16] may be in the same exact position that they were when this conflict began, and potentially [8:20] not in any healthier of a system. [8:22] This could be still an oppressive system by the time the US leaves. [8:25] I wonder if we should also be making something of the fact that he did not use the word war. [8:30] He continued to call it a conflict. [8:33] It is that. [8:34] But I wonder what we should make of that, especially when he asked Americans to put [8:38] this in the context of other conflicts. [8:41] But he was citing other wars. [8:43] Totally. [8:44] I mean, at the end of the speech, that is really how the president closes out. [8:47] He was comparing it to World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, all seeming to try [8:52] to lay out a difference in the time that he expects. [8:56] But it's not exactly encouraging. [8:57] He's comparing it to conflicts that have lasted a year, in some cases, longer. [9:01] That is not totally encouraging, as the majority of Americans continue to say in polling that [9:05] they think the war already has gone too far, that they want the US to get out quickly. [9:10] But in some way, he's... [9:11] He thought that was an encouraging message to leave Americans with. [9:15] But it also comes at a time when MAGA supporters say that this is not what they asked for. [9:19] They asked for an end to these forever wars. [9:21] It seems that he is trying to persuade them that this is not going to be that. [9:26] Do you think that this speech is an acknowledgment of the White House's awareness of the polling, [9:32] the skepticism from the Hill, the concern from the MAGA base? [9:36] And is it too little, too late? [9:38] I think that's a great question. [9:39] I think it remains to be seen. [9:41] But that is exactly what I think. [9:42] That's exactly what I thought when I saw Rubio's pregame, if you will, to the president's speech, [9:46] is he really opened this, saying, if you're wondering why we're in this conflict, let [9:50] me explain. [9:51] And that comes within a month. [9:52] And Congress has been demanding that, frankly, for a month. [9:54] Right, exactly. [9:55] Lawmakers continue to say that in these closed-door briefings, that they're frustrated with the [9:59] answers that they're getting. [10:00] But it's one month into this conflict. [10:03] It's too late to be explained to the American people. [10:05] They're already confused, and they probably potentially are still confused after last [10:09] night's speech. [10:10] Confused. [10:11] And then also looking to their own daily lives. [10:12] Yeah. [10:13] I think that's where maybe they're pulling up to gas pumps and paying more to fill up [10:17] their tank than they were before, in a political environment that, yes, people have an awareness [10:21] of what's happening on the world stage, of what the U.S. is doing. [10:24] But at the same time, people are focused where they're focused, on their own lives. [10:28] Yeah. [10:29] And affordability still remains the number one concern. [10:31] And the president last night called this the hottest economy in the world, which feels [10:35] very detached from how Americans are feeling. [10:37] I think that's going to be one of our continued dual focuses here as we try to continue making [10:41] sense of this. [10:42] MSNOW, White House reporter. [10:43] Michaela Gardner, as always, thank you.