Days after the start of the war in Iran, President Donald Trump said he anticipated it would last four to five weeks.
In the six months since, he called the war a “skirmish” and “little detour” that would be over “very soon” and was going “very fast.”
But as of Aug. 28, negotiations are on hold, and the U.S. has shifted to focus on economic pressure on Iran. Gas prices remain high and the war remains unpopular without an end in sight.
“They would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Trump told reporters on Aug. 21. See some of what else Trump has said when pressed on how long the war would last:
Watch: Trump comments on end of Iran war over 6 months
How long will the Iran war last? See Trump’s projections over 6 months
Shortly after President Donald Trump announced strikes in Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, he projected it would last four to five weeks. See his ongoing estimates.
How long will the Iran war last? What Trump has said
March 2, Trump: “We will easily prevail. We’re already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it’s OK, whatever it takes, we will always … and we have right from the beginning. We projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.”
March 9, Trump: “We’re ahead of our initial timeline by a lot. I would say that we probably would not have thought after a month we’d be here.”
March 16: Reporter asks off camera: “If Iran, as you said, totally obliterated, got the missiles, got the first two rounds of leadership. Air Force gone, Navy gone. Can we wrap this war up this week?” Trump: “Yeah, sure.” Reporter: “Will we?” Trump: “I don’t think so, but it’ll be soon. Won’t be long.”
March 17, Trump: “But we’re not ready to leave yet. But we … we’ll be leaving in the near future. We’ll be leaving in pretty much the very near future.”
March 26, Trump: “Again, we had to take a little detour. It won’t be long. It will end soon. We had to take a little detour, go to Iran and we had to put out a fire.”
March 31: Reporter asks off camera: “The U.S. will be gone or done with the war in two weeks?” Trump: “I think two or three weeks, yeah … We leave. Because there’s no reason for us to do this.”
April 1, Trump: “And tonight, I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion … We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”April 23, Trump: “I did say it. I thought it would take four to six weeks, and I was right because at the end of six weeks, at the end of four weeks, their military was decimated.”
May 6, Trump: “I call it a skirmish.”
June 11, Trump: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran, and we’re going to be, subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days. … We think it’s going to go pretty quickly. I don’t want to say a deadline because if I say a deadline, you’ll say, ‘Oh, he didn’t meet the deadline.’ You know, this is like − it’s not going to matter much because it’s gonna get signed.”
June 17, Trump: “It’s a memorandum of understanding. If it doesn’t get done in 60 days, that’s all right, we go back to bombing. I don’t want to do that because it’s so good, but we might have to because we’re never gonna let them have a nuclear weapon.”
July 13, reporter asks off camera: “How long do you expect this to take?” Trump: “Take what?” Reporter: “The war.” Trump: “Well, I think it’s going very fast.”
Aug. 6, Trump: “As soon as the war ends, and I think it’s going to end pretty soon.”
Aug. 21, Trump: “They would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion.”
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Threads, Bluesky and TikTok.