00:04Hello, and welcome to Global Pulse News.
00:08President Trump is set to address the nation tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on the conflict with Iran.
00:16White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt says the President will provide an important update,
00:22though she offered no further details.
00:25The address follows remarks from the President on Tuesday.
00:30In which he predicted the war would be over in two to three weeks.
00:34Quote, we'll be leaving very soon, he told reporters, adding that gas prices in turn would come tumbling down.
00:43When asked about the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point that has cut off one-fifth of
00:50the world's oil supply,
00:52Trump shrugged off the crisis.
00:55He said the United States would not be affected and that other nations would have to handle the situation themselves.
01:02They'll be able to fend for themselves, he said.
01:05We'll be leaving very soon, and if France or some other country wants to get oil or gas,
01:13they'll go up through the Strait, and the Hormuz Strait, they'll go right up there and they'll be able to
01:21fend for themselves.
01:22I think it'll be very safe, actually, but we have nothing to do with that.
01:25What happens to the Strait, we're not going to have anything to do with, because these countries, China,
01:30China will go up and they'll fuel up their beautiful ships and they'll leave and they'll take care of themselves.
01:36There's no reason for us to do it.
01:37The President's current timeline for a quick exit stands in sharp contrast to comments made just days earlier.
01:55At that time, Trump threatened to escalate if Tehran did not reopen the Strait,
02:02warning he could seize Iran's oil, blow up its electric generating plants and desalination facilities,
02:09and even invade Iran's key oil export terminal at Karg Island.
02:14But on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the President's latest stance,
02:21saying the main goal, preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon, has now been achieved.
02:28Rubio also sought to clarify the administration's war aims, listing them as the destruction of Iran's air force,
02:37the destruction of its navy, the severe diminishing of its missile launch capabilities,
02:42and the destruction of its weapons factories.
02:46Notably absent from that list, regime change, a goal the administration had touted in the past.
02:53Earlier this week, President Trump claimed regime change had already been accomplished,
02:59but Iran remains a hard-line theocracy, led by the son of the previous Ayatollah.
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