American President Donald Trump has said that the war in Iran will end soon and that the goals of the war are "pretty much complete," and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth says that Tuesday will be the "most intense day of strikes' so far in the Middle Eastern conflict.The American president has reiterated that the Iranian conflict is going well for the United States and Israel, saying that after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin the war was "very complete."Trump has said that the goals set out before the conflict started have mostly been achieved but has also said that the war can only end with "unconditional surrender" from the Iranians.These comments about the war being close to an end have been contradicted by Trump's own secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, who has said that the strikes are "just the beginning."When asked about this, the president seemed to backtrack, saying that both statements were true, adding that it was the "beginning of building a new country.".On Tuesday morning, Hegseth held a press conference, saying that this day would be the most "intense day of strikes" on Iran so far in the conflict.Hegseth also addressed the idea that the war was "spreading," saying that it was not and the war itself was actually "quite contained.".At the time of writing, there has been no major escalation in strikes or bombings from the United States on Iran.The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani, posted on Twitter, in a response to a Truth Social post from Trump saying that strikes will be "TWENTY TIMES HARDER" if Iran continues to block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz."The Ashura-loving nation of Iran does not fear your paper threats. Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation," Larijani wrote in response to the president, adding that Trump should "watch out for yourself—lest you be eliminated!".With the ascension of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the former supreme leader, to his father's former position, massive rallies have been held and demonstrations of allegiance have been held in Iran, most notably in Revolutionary Square in central Tehran..Videos like this demonstrate that the intended outcome of this conflict from a US perspective, regime change, will not be as straightforward as the American intervention in Venezuela earlier this year.Although any accurate opinion polling is impossible in a theocratic state like Iran, there are evidently still large swaths of the population who remain loyal to the current regime.If the president is being truthful about the war "ending soon," then the war would seemingly end with a similar regime to when it started.
