WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump launched the war against Iran in late February, he initially predicted it would last four to five weeks. Six months later, there is still no way out in sight despite Trump’s repeated claims that the war has been won or that a deal to resolve it is nearly complete. A June memorandum of understanding was designed to pave the way for ending the war, but it fell by the wayside. American stockpiles of key weapons have declined and the Republican administration has pivoted to economically pressure Iran rather than conduct more attacks. “There are no negotiations right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the negotiating table in a meaningful way,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. As the shape of war has transformed over the past half year, so have the objectives. One of the main goals now – reopening the Strait of Hormuz – was not one of Trump’s original goals. The waterway, which had been a vital shipping route carrying around 20% of the world’s oil, was open and free to all. Iran took advantage of it as a bottleneck for the global economy. The strait has been largely closed since the war began, driving up prices for the fuel and fertilizers needed for farms and creating economic and political pressure on the United States. The United States has had tactical success with its goals of degrading Iran’s military capabilities. But some of the other key objectives that Trump laid out at the beginning of the conflict remain unmet and others have changed. Here’s a look at the goals and what we know about their situation: Prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. In June 2025, Trump declared that the United States had “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear program. But when the war began, his advisers justified the attacks by warning that Iran was just weeks away from developing a bomb. One of the most pressing questions has been what will be done with a stockpile of about 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium that Tehran could potentially use as a weapon. The material is believed to be buried under three sites bombed by the United States and Israel last year. Trump said in a May 29 social media post that the United States would take it back “in close coordination and collaboration with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROY it.” Iran has not said whether it would consent. Without Iran’s permission, experts have said capturing it would be a dangerous mission that would require a significant deployment of US troops to the country. The officials said Tehran reaffirmed in the June memorandum of understanding that it would not acquire or develop nuclear weapons. The deal required Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But many other details about Iran’s program were left for future negotiations, and it is unclear how much progress, if any, was made before the talks quickly collapsed. Sign up for the Ground Game newsletter: your guide to the biggest stories in American politics, policy and elections. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz Trump has said that a proposed deal with Iran would include reopening the strait and the United States ending its blockade of Tehran’s ports, but on other occasions he has suggested that the international waterway would somehow become US territory and indicated that the United States could impose a toll on passing ships. Trump has also repeatedly said that the strait is open, including during an interview Wednesday on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s radio show: “It’s a working strait. Yes, every once in a while, there will be a drone or a rocket or something fired, but it’s a very well-functioning strait,” Trump said. Destroy Iran’s ability to fire missiles One of the main goals set by the administration was to “destroy its missiles and raze its missile industry.” Trump said in late March that Iran’s missiles “are mostly decimated” and that 90% of its missiles and launchers were disabled. In mid-May, that estimate changed to a more conservative estimate, with the president saying that 82% of Iran’s missiles were gone. Iran has demonstrated its ability to launch attacks in the region, including drone strikes against ships sailing through the strait. In July, the US military still had Iranian military targets to attack, and its Central Command announced that it was attacking “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks.” Destroying Iran’s defense industrial base At the beginning of the war, the president and his administration sometimes listed it as a separate objective. Other times, it has gone off your list. US Central Command has said its strike targets in Iran include weapons production and missile and drone manufacturing facilities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in early June that Iran had suffered “massive destruction” of its defense industrial base and “80 to 90% attrition. It will take them years to rebuild.” Eliminate Iran’s Navy and Air Force The United States and Israel quickly established air superiority in the skies over Iran, where they flew largely unopposed. Rubio told lawmakers that Iran still has drone capabilities, but lacks the ability to use swarms of drones to attack targets, as it did at the beginning of the war. He also said Iran no longer has a navy and relies on small boats equipped with machine guns that harass ships and sometimes drop mines into the water. Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s navy and air force “have completely disappeared.” Protecting America’s Middle East Allies Trump, in a social media post in March, added another goal for the United States: “To protect, at the highest level, our Middle East allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and others.” The United States maintains thousands of troops at bases and other facilities in the region, but Trump has not been clear about how far he would be willing to go to protect Middle East allies from threats in the long term. In June, when the United States said Iran had fired missiles at Kuwait and Bahrain, the United States launched strikes against Iran in response. But one ally, Oman, has not felt the warmth of Trump’s offer of protection and has instead dealt with Trump’s anger over the deal he was negotiating with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. In mid-August, he threatened in an interview that the United States would bomb Oman if it “got in the way,” using an insult for emphasis. Cutting support for Iranian-allied groups In March, Trump and his administration repeatedly said that degrading Iran’s proxy terrorist networks was a key goal. and “ensure that the Iranian regime cannot continue arming, financing and directing terrorist armies outside its borders.” From the beginning, the United States attacked Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq. But the biggest focus has been Israel’s war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which Iran backs. Iran has insisted that fighting in Lebanon must stop as part of any deal with the United States. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a deal, brokered by the United States, for Israeli forces to leave southern Lebanon in exchange for disarming Hezbollah, something one administration official described as a “big step,” speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the issue officially. But the militant group has refused to hold direct talks and its leader has said it will not disarm.___Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
