Donald Trump has said the US will shortly achieve its objectives in its war against Iran, but it is not clear what exactly those objectives are.

The Guardian’s defense editor Dan Sabbagh has this analysis:

Eliminate Iran’s missile and drone threat:

In an eight-minute video released on 28 February, Trump promised that the US would “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground”. Before the war Iran was estimated to have about 2,500 high-speed ballistic missiles and destroying the programme was a key goal for Israel too.

Iran’s missile launch rates have been reduced by about 90% and its long-term manufacturing capacity has been significantly degraded. However, Tehran has retained a continued, if modest, capacity to strike Israel and the Gulf, causing fear, damage and small numbers of casualties.

There have been seven to 19 waves of attacks a day on Israel by Iran since the fourth day of the war, according to the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies. The most heavily targeted Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, said on Thursday its air defences had engaged 26 drones and 19 missiles from Iran.

However, sources told Reuters last week that the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal. On Wednesday Trump said the US was “hurting their … missile programme at levels never seen before” and that Iran’s missiles and drone launches had been “dramatically curtailed” – a notable softening of his opening position.

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