Trump sends mixed messages on when strikes on Iran will end

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US military operation in Iran is both a war and a short-term "excursion," sending mixed messages on when the strikes will end.

"You just said it is a little excursion and you said it is a war. So, which one is it?" Trump was asked by one of the reporters traveling with him in the US state of Ohio.

"Well, it's both," Trump answered. "It's an excursion that will keep us out of a war, and the war is going to be, I mean for them it's a war."

Addressing House Republicans on Monday, Trump described the military operation against Iran as a "short-term excursion" while later vowing to "go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory." He has also demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender."

Though Trump said earlier on Wednesday that the US-Israeli war with Iran will end "soon" because there is "practically nothing left to target," Axios reported.

US and Israeli officials said that they are preparing for at least two more weeks of strikes in Iran, and that there has been no internal directive on when such strikes might stop, according to the report.

More than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 9,669 civilian sites destroyed in Iran in US-Israeli strikes since Feb 28, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday.