Trump turns to sanctions as US-Israel war on Iran hits six months

Washington (TIP): President Donald Trump reaches the six-month mark of the US-Israel war against Iran on Friday, as his administration shifts from military action to sharper economic pressure on Tehran. The milestone comes after Trump had repeatedly told Americans the conflict would be a “little excursion” lasting only a few weeks.
The war is still continuing, even as Trump says Iran’s leadership, military and economy have been badly hit by bombs and blockade. This week, the administration said it would now focus on increasing economic pressure, including threats to punish any country or entity that continues to do business with Tehran.
The move towards sanctions comes as the administration weighs reduced munitions stockpiles after months of war, raising concerns that the prolonged conflict could affect US military readiness in other parts of the world. Trump’s language on ending the war quickly has also softened. He said this week that he is “not in a hurry” to bring Iran back to the negotiating table and continued to argue that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is struggling. “They’re not paying their troops. They’re in deep trouble. They have very little capacity,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything,” he said.
It is unclear whether Trump will publicly mark the six-month point of a conflict that has cost the United States more than USD 37.5 billion and affected his popularity ahead of key November elections for his party. He is spending Friday in Houston, where he will honour the Artemis II NASA crew for their 10-day mission around the moon earlier this year.
The moment is difficult for a president who campaigned on keeping the military out of “endless wars” and criticised earlier administrations for spending American money and lives in conflicts in the Middle East. Trump, however, has pushed back against comparisons with Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that no American troops have been deployed into Iran. Even so, the conflict has lasted far longer than he had said. That did not stop him from sharing a social media post this week declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026”. The AI-generated image showed Trump with US fighter jets, a warship and American flags, alongside smaller images of former president George W Bush and former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike at the start of the war.