After six months of Iran war, US goals have shifted. The Strait of Hormuz is now a top concern

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran in late February, he initially forecast it would last four to five weeks. Six months later, there’s still no off-ramp in sight despite Trump’s repeated assertions that the war has been won or a deal to resolve it was nearly complete. A June memorandum of understanding designed to pave the way to end the war has fallen by the wayside.

stockpiles of key weapons have diminished and the Trump administration has pivoted to pressuring Iran economically rather than launching more strikes. As the shape of the war has morphed over the last half year, so have the goals for the conflict. One of the prime goals now — reopening the Strait of Hormuz — was not one of Trump’s original objectives.

The waterway had been a vital shipping lane through which about 20% of the world’s oil passed. But Iran seized on it as a chokepoint for the global economy and it has been largely closed since the war started, driving up prices for fuel and fertilizer needed for farms and creating economic and political pressure in the U.S. has had tactical success on its goals to degrade Iran’s military capabilities.

But some of the other key objectives Trump laid out at the start of the conflict remain unfulfilled — and others have shifted. Here’s a look at the objectives and what we know about where they stand: Stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon Last June, Trump declared that the U.S. had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.

But when the war started, his aides justified the strikes by warning that Iran had been just weeks away from developing a bomb. One of the most pressing questions has been what will be done with a stockpile of about 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium that Tehran could potentially use for a weapon. The material is believed to be buried under three sites bombed by the U.S.

Trump said in a May 29 social media post that it would be retrieved by the U.S. “in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.” Iran has not said whether it would consent. Without permission from Iran, experts have said seizing it would be a dangerous mission requiring a sizable deployment of U.S.