President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (March 31) that the U.S. could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks.

"We'll be leaving very soon," he told reporters in the White House's Oval Office, adding that the exit could take place "within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three."

The declaration was Trump's clearest to date that he intends to soon end a month-long war that has reordered the Middle East, disrupted global energy markets and changed the trajectory of the Republican's presidency.

Trump added that Tehran does not have to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict.

"Iran doesn't have to make a deal, no," he said when asked if successful diplomacy was a prerequisite to the U.S. winding down the conflict. "No, they don't have to make a deal with me."

Instead, Trump said, the requirement for winding down the operation was that Iran be "put into the stone ages," without the ability to soon acquire a nuclear weapon.

"Then we'll leave," he said.

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Trump says U.S. will be leaving Iran 'very soon'

VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (MARCH 31, 2026) (UNRESTRICTED POOL - Access all)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, ADDRESSING MEDIA IN OVAL OFFICE

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, IN EXCHANGE WITH JOURNALIST:

JOURNALIST ASKING (OFF CAMERA): "What is the plan to bring them (gas prices) back down?"

TRUMP: "All I have to do is leave Iran and we'll be doing that very soon and they'll be come tumbling down. And stock prices were up today almost to a record because they know two things. Number one, we have a safe country. We had to take a little detour because we had a madman named Khamenei, who sadly is no longer with us and we had regime change already. We've knocked out one regime then we knocked out the second regime. Now we have a group of people that's very, that are very different. They're much more reasonable, I think, much more, much less radicalized. We've had regime change. We're dealing with people that are much more rational."

3. TRUMP ADDRESSING MEDIA

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, IN EXCHANGE WITH JOURNALIST:

"I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three. We're hitting them very hard. Last night, we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities. As you probably read or wrote. We knocked out, excuse me?"

JOURNALIST ASKING (OFF CAMERA): Pardon interrupting, the U.S. will be gone, or done with the war?

TRUMP: "I think with two ro three weeks. We'll leave."

5. TRUMP ADDRESSING MEDIA

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"We're negotiating with them. Right now they've been again, we have had regime change. Now, regime change was not one of the things I had as a goal. I had one goal they will have no nuclear weapon and that goal has been attained. They will not have nuclear weapons. But we're finishing the job. And I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. But we want to knock out every single thing they have. Now, it's possible that we'll make a deal before that because we'll hit bridges and we've hit some. We'll hit some bridges, I have a couple of nice bridges in mind. But if they come to the table, that'll be good. But doesn't matter whether they come in, we've set them back. It'll take 15 to 20 years for them to rebuild what we've done to them."

7. TRUMP ADDRESSING MEDIA

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"When we feel that they are for a long period of time put into the stone ages and they won't be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we'll leave whether we have a deal or that's irrelevant now, it's possible that we'll have a deal because they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal more than I want to make a deal."

9. TRUMP ADDRESSING MEDIA