Ahead of Trump Address, Iran's President Issues Letter

President Trump is set to go on primetime TV and declare the Iran war on track to wrap up within weeks. A White House official tells the Wall Street Journal that Trump's address on Iran, scheduled for 9pm Eastern, will highlight what the administration calls strong progress in "Operation Epic Fury," now in its second month. Trump is expected to say the campaign is hitting or surpassing all of its targets and to repeat his prediction that major combat could conclude in two to three weeks. Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he will also discuss his extreme disappointment with NATO what he considers a failure to support the US. He confirmed that he is considering taking the US out of the alliance.

Trump declined to give Reuters a timeline, but said, "We're going to be out pretty quickly," adding that "we'll come back to do spot hits" when needed. The administration's stated goals in Iran include destroying ballistic missiles and their production sites, crippling the Iranian navy, cutting off support for allied militias across the region, and preventing Tehran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.

• Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is pushing back with a direct appeal to Americans. In a letter released by state media, he insisted Iran "has never initiated a war," describing its military posture as "legitimate self-defense" and accusing Washington of maintaining tensions to justify its presence in the region. He said portraying Iran as a threat was part of a "flood of distortions and manufactured narratives." Pezeshkian warned that continued US strikes could fuel long-term instability, casting Iran as open to dialogue while holding the US responsible for the current conflict.

• "Today, the world stands at crossroads," Pezeshkian wrote. "The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come." The New York Times notes that it's not clear whether the letter represents "a consensus among Iran's leaders."
• Pezeshkian has been Iran's president since 2024. In a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump said Iran's "New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!" A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said Trump's claim was "false and baseless."