US President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated address to the nation on Wednesday may not have laid out a clear-cut timeline for ending the Iran war, now into its second month, but unintentionally encapsulated the complexity of the conflict in which the US has found itself entangled.

Around the beginning of the war, which the US and Israel launched on February 28, Trump had suggested that military operations against Iran could last at least four to five weeks.

Now, with the war nearly completing its fifth week, Trump warned of an intense two-three week campaign that would bring Iran “back to the stone ages”, shifted the goalposts on the administration’s aims about Iran’s regime and its nuclear programme, brushed off any responsibility for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and, essentially, kept the window open for a prolonged war by citing previous US interventions. 

Here are the five takeaways about the war from Trump’s 18-minute speech delivered at the White House, and the implications for India.

1. Trump did not give a timeline to end the war, but…

Trump said: “Thanks to the progress we have made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly, we are going to hit them extremely hard. Over the next two to three weeks, we are going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong.”

This means that his initial five-week estimate could now stretch to at least eight weeks, forcing the world to brace for the long haul — something that would not have been part of the strategic calculus when the war began.

Trump, in fact, drew comparisons with some of the wars that the US has fought in the past — the two World Wars, the Korean war, the Vietnam war and the Iran-Iraq war — to insist that this one was relatively brief. 

“It’s very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. American involvement in World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.”

This could be seen as Trump potentially laying the ground for a longer conflict.

And, to be clear, this war has had an outsize impact despite its relatively brief length, primarily owing to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz that has set off the world’s worst energy shock. This is what Trump said about the strait.

The longer this war goes on, the worse — and more prolonged — the energy shock’s effects will be for the world.

2. The Strait of Hormuz not America’s problem

Trump’s mention of the Strait of Hormuz was to essentially wash America’s hands off the matter and put the onus on European and other countries.

Pointing to the fact that the US does not depend on the strait for its energy needs, he said: “The countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage. They must cherish it. They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily.”

Trump said the US would be “helpful” but that other countries should “take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on”.

He continued: “Build up some delayed courage. Should have done it before. Should have done it with us as we asked, go to the Strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves”. 

This was a reference to European countries that have refused to participate in any naval mobilisation to clear the strait and ensure the safety of oil and gas vessels.

Iran closed the maritime chokepoint, which accounts for a fifth of global energy flows, as a response to the US-Israeli attack. This has emerged as the most adverse consequence of the war and become Tehran’s most important leverage. The reopening of the strait and the change in the rules of engagement could be the most difficult post-war challenge.

But Trump has essentially refused to take any part in fixing a problem that did not exist before he launched the war. He said: “Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy, and in any event, when this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. It will just open up naturally.”

3. Door open for negotiations

Trump talked about ongoing negotiations but did not spell out specifics. Iran does not appear to be too willing to make many concessions as it retains strategic leverage through the strait. Its interlocutors have been tough in their messaging, having been betrayed earlier.

Trump then addressed the US’s long-stated goal of regime change — by first declaring that they never wanted it and then claiming that the aim had already been achieved.

“Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leader’s death, they’re all dead.”

This is a clear deviation from Trump’s position where he had said that regime change was one of the strategic objectives. In January, he had said that help was on its way, and then in March, he had reiterated that people should come out and take power, as that was their opportunity. Now, he has said he will send Iran “back to the stone ages”.

In recent days, Trump has also said that he had already carried out a regime change, and this was the third regime in place — essentially referring to the killing of the Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and key officials including Ali Larijani.

He claimed during his White House speech: “The new group is less radical and much more reasonable.”

This means two things. First, the Iranian regime is far from collapsing, as was anticipated earlier. Second, the door to negotiations is very much open as Trump never badmouths a strong negotiator on the opposite end — be it Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US has reportedly been planning an immensely risky ground operation to extract the enriched nuclear fissile material out of Iran. 

Trump said about this: “The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the nuclear dust, and we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control… If we see them make a move, even a move for it will hit them with missiles very hard again. We have all the cards. They have none.”

This is a reference to the bombing by the US in June 2025 on the nuclear facilities in Iran — Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. At that time, the US President had claimed that it was obliterated. The intelligence assessment has not been the same.

Now, he has moved the goalpost by saying that it is rubble — he called it “nuclear dust” — and that Iran should not try to move it.

5. A threat of escalation

Trump warned the Iranian regime that if a deal is not struck, the US would not hesitate to attack the Iranian power grid — a significant escalation which many experts call a war crime since it targets civilians. A collapse of the power grid would mean that desalination plants won’t work, which would deprive the population of drinking water.

“Yet, if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously, we have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding,” he said.

Trump has tom-tommed the brute power and military force that the US and Israel have over Iran. “We could hit it and it would be gone, and there’s not a thing they could do about it. They have no anti aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100% annihilated… We are unstoppable as a military force”. 

What this means for India

India will have to prepare for a long haul in terms of the economic impact, as Iran too is not backing down.

Just ahead of Trump’s speech, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a letter to the American people. While he acknowledged that the path of war would be costly, he underlined: “Throughout its millennia of proud history, Iran has outlasted many aggressors. All that remains of them are tarnished names in history, while Iran endures—resilient, dignified, and proud.”

This means that Tehran is preparing itself for a fight ahead. The conflict is not nearing an end, yet.