Trump keeps telling America he's winning in Iran. He's less clear in explaining how the war ends

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing jittery global markets and drooping poll numbers since launching a war with Iran, President Donald Trump has cycled from calls for “unconditional surrender” to sounding amenable to an end state in which Iran trades one hard-line ayatollah for another.

Shifting comments from the Republican president and his top aides are adding to the precariousness of the 12-day-old conflict, which is impacting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic tremors around the globe. With neither side budging, the war is now on an unpredictable path and a credible endgame is unclear.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday it was up to Trump “whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end” of the war. Trump, during the course of one speech at a House Republican gathering Monday, went from calling the war a “short-term excursion” that could end soon to proclaiming “we haven’t won enough."

“We have hit them harder than virtually any country in history has been hit, and we’re not finished yet,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

The vacillation has fueled criticism from those who say Trump lacks a clear goal. “They didn’t have a plan," Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told reporters. "They have no timeline. And because of that, they have no exit strategy.”

Since ordering the Iran bombardment, Trump has continually shifted his timelines and goals for the war.

Over the past few days, Trump has called for the “unconditional surrender" of Iran's leaders, while suggesting he had already succeeded in achieving his objective of decimating Iran’s military.

At the same time, Trump's team has sought to soothe anxious Americans that the war will not be long and drawn out even as the president has insisted he has not ruled out the option of using U.S. ground troops.

The U.S. military says it has effectively destroyed the Iranian navy and made huge strides in defanging Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones at its neighbors. Yet the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes on a typical day, remains essentially closed to business, and Iranian leaders are unbowed.

The Revolutionary Guard said Iran would not allow “a single liter of oil” through the vital waterway until the United States stopped its bombing campaign. Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, offered a menacing message on Tuesday after Trump had threatened to attack Iran “TWENTY TIMES HARDER” if Tehran stopped oil flowing through the strait.

“The sacrificial nation of Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats,” Larijani wrote on X. “Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”

Trump ally Newt Gingrich, a former Republican House speaker, said the administration should have moved on securing the strait on Day One of the conflict.

“If they can’t keep it open, this war will in fact be an American defeat before very long, because the entire world, including the American people, will react to the price of oil if the strait stay closed very long,” Gingrich said in an appearance on Fox Business.

Trump has struggled to make his case to Americans about why preemptive action against Iran was necessary and how it squared with his pledge to keep the United States out of the “forever wars” of the past two decades. Thus far, seven U.S. troops have been killed and about 140 injured in the retaliatory salvos from Iran.

One of several reasons Trump has offered to justify launching the war was that he had a “feeling” that Iran was getting set to attack the U.S.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slightly amended that position, telling reporters that the president “had a feeling” that was “based on fact.”

But Pentagon officials have told congressional staffers in private briefings that the U.S. does not have intelligence indicating that Iran was planning to preemptively attack the U.S.

Recent polling shows Trump's decision to attack Iran has not come with the rallying-around-the-flag effect that has typically accompanied the start of recent U.S. wars.

About half of voters in Quinnipiac and Fox News polls said the U.S. military action in Iran makes the U.S. “less safe,” while only about 3 in 10 in each poll said it made the country safer. A CNN poll found about half of U.S. adults thought the military action would make Iran “more of a threat” to the U.S., while only about 3 in 10 thought it would lessen the danger.

In that CNN poll, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults said they trusted Trump “not much” or “not at all” to make the right decisions about the U.S. use of force in Iran.

European allies are treading carefully after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faced the wrath of Trump, who deemed them not sufficiently supportive in backing his war of choice.

Trump on Wednesday lashed out again at Spain, which has said it will not allow the U.S. to use jointly operated bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the U.N. charter.

“I think they've been very bad — not good at all,” Trump said. “We may cut off trade with Spain.”

Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has been broadly supportive of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, said on Tuesday that “more questions arise with every day of war.”

Trump has chosen to deflect responsibility for the bombing of a girl's school in southern Iran on the first day of the conflict, killing at least 165 people.

Trump on Saturday blamed the attack on Iran, saying its security forces are "very inaccurate" with munitions.

On Monday, after the investigative group Bellingcat posted verified video that showed a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile hitting a Revolutionary Guard facility near the school, causing the explosion, Trump again insisted it could have been Iran's fault but said that he would accept whatever a U.S. investigation into the matter might find.

The president erroneously claimed that Tehran had access to Tomahawks, a U.S.-manufactured weapon system that is only available to the U.S. and a few close allies.

Asked by a reporter, Leavitt did not directly answer why Trump falsely asserted that Iran has access to the U.S.-made missile.

Instead, she responded in part that “the president has a right to share his opinions with the American public” while noting “he has said he’ll accept the conclusion of that investigation.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters that Trump's claim “is beyond asinine.”

“Again, he says whatever pops into his head no matter what the truth is," Schumer said. “And we all know he lies, but on something as formidable as this, it’s appalling.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., was among Trump allies gently making the case that it was important for the administration to clarify what happened to the school.

Cramer said the military must “do everything you can to eliminate those mistakes going forward.”

“But you also can’t undo it," he added.

This story has been corrected to show seven, not eight, U.S. troops have been killed.

Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Joey Cappelletti, Ben Finley and Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., leaves after a closed door briefing on the Iran war before the Senate Armed Services Committee at the Capitol Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while traveling aboard Air Force One en route from Dover Air Force Base, Del., to Miami, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Members Issues Conference, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Adam Scott officially is set for his 100th consecutive major next month in the U.S. Open, which added 24 players to the field from the world ranking on Monday. Sixteen players also earned spots at qualifiers in England and Dallas.

Scott effectively secured his spot among the top 60 in the world with a tie for fourth in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He is at No. 49 in this week's ranking, which the U.S. Open uses to determine who avoids qualifying.

Others exempt through the top 60 in the world ranking include Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Alex Smalley, who tied for second in the PGA Championship to move up 36 spots to No. 42.

Matti Schmid, who had the lead during the final round of the PGA Championship and wound up in a tie for fourth, earned one of five exemptions awarded to leading players in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour who were not already exempt.

The exemptions finalized Monday meant 70 players in the 156-man field will be forced to qualify, an unusually low number for a major that prefers that roughly half the field go through qualifying. The U.S. Open is June 18-21 at Shinnecock on New York's Long Island.

Adding to the field Monday were two final qualifying events.

Nathan Kimsey of England had a 62 in his second round at Walton Heath to earn one of seven spots out of England. He will be making his U.S. Open debut.

Kimsey was joined by Rocco Repetto Taylor, Filippo Celli, Matthew Jordan, Angel Hidalgo, Niklas Norgaard and Ugo Coussaud, who earned the final spot in a 4-for-1 playoff.

Thomas Detry ended nine days of U.S. Open misfortune by losing out in England playoff, and missing out in the bid for two alternate spots.

Detry was set to earn an exemption from LIV Golf until Lucas Herbert won in Virginia on May 10. He was at No. 61 in the world going into the PGA Championship but missed a 12-foot birdie putt on his final hole to miss the cut by one shot. And then he flew to London.

All is not lost. Detry still has two tournaments — the Soudal Open this week in his native Belgium and LIV Golf Korea the following week — to move into the top 60 before the final cutoff for the world ranking on June 14.

The Dallas qualifier — the first of 11 to be held in North America over the next month — featured Sergio Garcia among 14 players from LIV Golf.

LIV's Peter Uihlein won the qualifier and was one of three LIV players to get through, joined by 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Caleb Surratt. McDowell who will play in the championship for the first time since 2020, the last year of his exemption for winning at Pebble Beach a decade earlier.

Garcia fell two shots short of a six-way playoff for the last spot, won by Surratt. The other players to qualify at Dallas Athletic Club were Tom Kim, Cooper Dossey, Manav Shah, Jimmy Stanger, Adrien Dumont de Chassart and TK Kim.

Scott's streak began with the 2001 British Open, and he has not missed a major since, even going through U.S. Open qualifying when he wasn't exempt. It's the longest streak since Jack Nicklaus played in 146 in a row, from the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open.

Scott's one close call was breaking a bone in his hand before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, but he played — grouped with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the opening two rounds — and tied for 26th that week.

“I would rather win some stuff, and let’s celebrate winning the U.S. Open than just playing in it,” Scott said three weeks ago. “I can give myself a pat on the back for hanging in there and playing all these events. I think there’s some luck in it, but I think I’ve had generally great advice around me from a physical and training standpoint that’s kept me healthy and pretty much injury-free.”

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Alex Smalley hits from the fourth tee during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Matti Schmid, of Germany, hits from the bunker on the 13th green during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Adam Scott, of Australia, looks at his ball on the 10th green during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Aronimink Golf Club, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Newtown Square, PA. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)