Washington, March 31 US President Donald Trump has told his aides that he is willing to end the military operation against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, leaving the campaign to reopen it for a later date, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing administration officials.
In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks, the Daily said in a report.
According to the report, Trump decided that the US should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran's navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade.
If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the WSJ said, quoting officials.
At a media briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president and the chief of the Pentagon have always stated a four to six-week estimated timeline for the military operation.
"We're on day 30 today," she said.
Leavitt also indicated that the Arab countries can be asked to share the burden of the military operation in Iran.
“I think it's something the president would be quite interested in. I won't get ahead of him on that but certainly it's an idea, something that I think you’ll hear more from him on,” she said in response to a question of whether countries such as Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia should pick up the tab for the Iran operation.
Starting February 28, the US and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran, which in turn retaliated, spreading the war to the entire Gulf region. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategically important choke point for the world's energy supplies.
The strait, a narrow shipping lane that connects the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean, remains effectively closed, bringing to a near halt the transit of hundreds of vessels per day, including container, dry bulk and liquid cargo ships.