What did Trump say in his speech? Key takeaways from Iran address

• The president offered no exact timetable for ending the conflict but promised to escalate bombing.
• Trump acknowledged a "short-term" spike in gas prices, which he blamed on Iran's actions.
• A majority of Americans, including many Republicans, want the war to end even if goals are not met.

President Donald Trump painted a rosy picture of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in a primetime address April 1, in an effort to address the conflict's unpopularity.

To that end, he repeated previous suggestions that the war will end in two to three weeks and that gas prices, which have spiked because of the war, will soon come down.

The war has divided prominent figures among Trump's supporters since the U.S. and Israel began their bombardment of Iran on Feb. 28.

According to a March 24 Reuters poll, 35% of Americans approve of the strikes on Iran versus 61% who disapprove. The same poll found Trump's approval rating has dropped to 36%, his lowest since returning to the White House.

Although the Iranian regime is still in place, Trump hailed U.S. battlefield successes.

"Iran's navy is gone. Their air force is in ruins," Trump said. "Their leaders — most of them (in the) terrorist regime they led — are now dead."

According to a March 31 Reuters poll, 66% of Americans want the war brought swiftly to an end, while 27% said the U.S. should work ​to achieve all its goals in Iran, even if the conflict ​goes on for an extended period.

Here are the three key aspects of Trump's address.

No exact timetable on ending Iran war

From the start, Trump's 19-minute address lauded the military might that he said resulted in "swift, decisive (and) overwhelming victories on the battlefield."

U.S. and Israeli forces have obliterated much of Iran's ballistic missile system, but the Islamic-based regime continues to fire missiles in the region whether at other Persian Gulf countries or towards U.S. troops, including 12 injured at a base in Saudi Arabia on March 27.

Much of the interest in the president's comments April 1, however, stemmed from the diplomatic objectives that the destruction is achieving and when the conflict will end. In that regard the president said the U.S. is "getting very close" to finishing the "job" but that the pace of bombing would escalate until Iran relented.

"We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," Trump said. "We’re going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong."

Trump acknowledges 'short-term' gas price spike

The speech comes at a perilous political time for Trump and Republicans in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with the rising cost of living a political albatross for the party in power.

Gas prices crossed an average of $4 a gallon nationally this week and just 24% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling that issue, a new CNN/SSRS poll released March 31 found. That is $1 per gallon higher than it was a month ago when the air strikes began and Americans say it is hurting their wallets.

When Trump eventually focused on the war's economic consequences he repeated previous claims that this is a "short term" situation that he blamed on the Iranian regime's "deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries" in the Persian Gulf region.

The president said the war's ending will result in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway in the global oil market, which has been met with skepticism by some experts.

"They're going to want to be able to sell oil because that's all they have to try and rebuild," Trump said. "It will resume the flowing and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices will rapidly go back up."

It is too soon to tell if the president's comments will alleviate the domestic heartburn.

About 63% said higher price at the pump is causing some financial hardship in their households, the CNN survey showed, including roughly 15% who describe the situation as severe.

Not much different from Truth Social posts

Much of the speech was a rehash of Trump's previous comments online and at various chats with reporters over the past month, including repeated demands that Iran negotiate or risk annihilation.

The president mentioned the need to combat Iran in order to stop it from becoming a nuclear power, and he once again slammed former President Barack Obama's deal with the foreign adversary, which Trump pulled out of during his first administration in 2018.

In that previous agreement, Iran had agreed to relinquish 97% of its nuclear stockpile and 70% of its centrifuges -- the machines used to enrich uranium. But many argue that the war has given the Iranians a better footing than originally anticipated, especially given the economic fallout globally.

"Because of the actions we have taken we are on the cusp of ending Iran's sinister threat to America and the world," Trump said.

By the time the president was finished, however, there were no new announcements about the conflict.

Contributing: Reuters