President Donald Trump is privately telling advisers that he wants the conflict to end quickly even though a peaceful solution is still not clear.
Nearly a month into the war, Trump has asked his team to follow a four-to-six-week timeline he has already shared in public. He hopes the war will end before his planned mid-May meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
According to the Wall Street Journal, he has also admitted in private that the war is taking focus away from important issues like midterm elections, immigration enforcement and other government work.
“This thing is going to be settled very soon,” Trump said Tuesday, but added that some military leaders were “not interested in settlement” and are more focused on “winning.”
Polls show growing opposition
The timing is difficult for Trump as new polls show more people are unhappy with his leadership. According to the Fox News poll which was conducted from March 20 to 23 with 1,001 registered voters found that 59 percent disapprove of how he is handling the presidency which is the highest level of disapproval across both of his terms.
Out of these, 47 percent said they strongly disapprove. His earlier highest disapproval was 58 percent in November during his second term and 57 percent in October 2017 during his first term.
When it comes to the Iran conflict, the same poll found that 64 percent of people disapprove of Trump’s handling of the situation. It also showed that 58 percent oppose the US military action, with 37 percent saying they “strongly” oppose it. These numbers are higher than during his first term when disapproval on Iran peaked with 55 percent in October 2017.
Another poll by Reuters which was released on Tuesday showed that Trump’s overall approval rating at 36 percent while 62 percent disapprove of his performance. The poll also found that 52 percent of Americans think US actions in Iran are not going well and 44 percent believe the military operation is making the country less safe.
NATO gets a warning
Trump also used Thursday’s Cabinet meeting to criticize NATO allies saying they failed an important test by not supporting the US at the start of the conflict.
“I said 25 years ago that NATO’s a paper tiger, but more importantly, that we’ll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours,” he said. “They didn’t come to our rescue.”
He said some NATO countries only offered help when the fighting was almost over which he did not agree with.
“It’s supposed to get involved with the war’s beginning or even before it begins,” Trump said.
He also warned that NATO’s response will not be forgotten, especially when other issues like Ukraine and Greenland come up later.
“This was a test for NATO. This was a test,” Trump said. “Just remember, remember this in a number of months from now.”
‘Before it is too late…’: Trump’s fresh warning to Iran ahead of peace talks
Peace talks stuck as both sides hold firm
A ceasefire still looks unlikely as there are no clear talks happening right now. Iranian officials have denied that any negotiations are taking place and have set strict conditions to end the conflict including guarantees against future attacks and payment for damages.
Iran has also rejected Trump’s 15-point peace plan, putting forward its own plan which says it will keep control over the Strait of Hormuz and wants compensation.
Trump gave a strong warning in response saying Iran’s negotiators must “get serious soon,” otherwise “there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”
He also said making peace is difficult because much of Iran’s leadership is gone leaving no one clear to negotiate with.
“One of the problems they do have when they deal with us is we deal with people and the people aren’t able to communicate with anybody else, because all of their leadership has been gone,” Trump said. “The first level is gone. And they met to pick a new level, and they’re gone. They’re all gone because they didn’t make a deal.”
