WASHINGTON, March 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran will end "soon" because there is "practically nothing left to target."
"Little this and that ... Any time I want it to end, it will end," Trump told U.S. online media outlet Axios in a five-minute phone interview on Wednesday.
The president said Iran "will not get off that easy" after targeting U.S. assets across multiple countries in the Middle East.
U.S. and Israeli officials say they are preparing for at least two more weeks of strikes in Iran, and there has been no internal directive on when fighting might stop, according to the Axios report.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday the war will go on "without any time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and decisively win the campaign."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy has carried out strikes on two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since Wednesday morning, its public relations department said in a statement.
Reports said at least three ships, including one from Thailand, were struck by "unknown" projectiles in separate incidents as they traveled through the strait on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, said that U.S. forces struck a "large ballistic missile manufacturing facility" in Iran on Tuesday night.
"We are methodically dismantling them by hitting Iranian missiles and drones as we also strike their defense industrial base," Cooper said on X, "Just last night, our bomber force hit a large ballistic missile manufacturing facility as an example."
The commander said the U.S. military has struck more than 5,500 targets across Iran, including over 60 vessels, since the United States and Israel launched massive attacks against Iran on Feb. 28. ■
