Donald Trump is quietly looking for a way out of the war against Iran. His administration plans to announce a ceasefire and an exit by mid-March, officials informed the East Post.
According to highly placed sources in the US government and intelligence community, the president began exploring options for a ceasefire days before Iran’s president, Dr Massoud Pezeshkian, presented Washington with three demands that could allow the US to disengage from the conflict.
Those conditions outline what Tehran would require before allowing Washington to step back from the war against Iran without further escalation.
According to US government sources, the US president has agreed to start a conversation with Dr Pezeshkian and Iranian officials, but that would create further difficulties for him.
Firstly, it would show an American president surrendering to Iran, and it would also isolate Israel, which has used its lobbyists to cajole the US into its war.
Inside the White House, officials increasingly acknowledge that the conflict is becoming strategically and politically costly. Iranian strikes have damaged US military infrastructure across West Asia, oil prices have surged, and domestic pressure is rising ahead of the mid-term elections.
What began as a campaign intended to weaken Iran’s leadership has instead become a strategic dilemma for Washington. The war against Iran, launched to project American power, now risks becoming a prolonged conflict that the US is increasingly eager to exit.
Mounting losses in the war against Iran
Iran’s strategy has focused on imposing disproportionate costs on American forces.
Much attention has centred on the widespread deployment of Shahed-136 drones. Each costs between $20,000 and $50,000. Yet intercepting them often requires Patriot or THAAD missiles costing several million dollars.
A Patriot interceptor can cost roughly $4m, while a THAAD missile may cost as much as $12m. The imbalance forces the US to spend heavily simply to defend its bases.
Pentagon officials reportedly told Congress that the US spent roughly $6bn during the first week of the war against Iran alone. Earlier estimates suggested the conflict could cost as much as $1bn a day.
Iranian strikes have also destroyed or damaged more than $2bn worth of US military infrastructure across West Asia, according to internal estimates.
Replacing these systems will take time. Radar networks must be rebuilt and missile stocks replenished—an effort that could take months or years.
At the same time, the Pentagon must maintain military readiness elsewhere, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, where tensions with China remain high.
With losses mounting and Iranian attacks continuing, officials say the Trump administration has yet to define a clear strategic objective for the war against Iran.
Privately, several advisers have begun urging the president to pursue a ceasefire that would allow Washington to exit the conflict without appearing to concede defeat.
Much worried about the situation are Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who want to run together in the 2028 elections.
Assassination that strengthened Iran
One of the most consequential moments in the war against Iran was the assassination of Iran’s former supreme leader, Saeed Ali Khamenei.
Washington and Tel Aviv initially celebrated the killing as a major strategic victory.
But developments since then suggest the assassination produced the opposite effect.
Iranian officials quickly framed Khamenei’s killing as martyrdom. The symbolism surrounding the assassination carried immense weight across the Muslim world.
The supreme leader was assassinated during Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, while the country was under foreign attack. Iranian state media emphasised that he refused to abandon Tehran despite warnings of imminent strikes.
Instead, he remained with members of his family and senior advisers until the final moment.
In the Iranian narrative, this transformed him into a martyr who chose death rather than leave his people in wartime.
The symbolism echoes another moment in modern history. When Che Guevara was killed in Bolivia in 1967, the revolutionary’s death ultimately turned him into a global icon of resistance.
Iranian experts say Khamenei’s assassination has produced a similar dynamic in the war against Iran.
Rather than weakening the Islamic Republic, the killing appears to have strengthened Iran’s resolve and mobilised support among sections of the wider Muslim world.
The rapid appointment of his successor, Saeed Mojtaba Khamenei, further demonstrated the resilience of Iran’s political system.
Mr Trump’s critics have used these developments to slam his adventurism. He is blamed for replacing an old and ailing Khamenei with his literal younger version.
Far from triggering regime collapse, the assassination seems to have reinforced Iran’s determination in the war against Iran.
Missing goalposts
The US never formally declared war on Iran, a step that would have required congressional approval.
Instead, Washington described its operations as “pre-emptive strikes”.
But critics note that Iran had not attacked American territory immediately before the campaign began.
Since then, the war against Iran has expanded across multiple countries in West Asia while the administration’s strategic objectives remain unclear.
At various points, Mr Trump echoed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for “regime change” in Tehran.
Yet weeks of fighting have produced little sign that such an outcome is achievable.
Iran’s political system has demonstrated a capacity to absorb leadership losses and replace commanders quickly.
For Washington, the absence of a clearly defined goal has complicated the prosecution of the war against Iran.
Inflation, body bags and mid-term politics
The war against Iran is also reshaping domestic politics in the US.
Consumer prices rose again in February as rents continued climbing and households paid more for fuel and groceries.
Since the conflict began, gasoline prices have surged roughly 20% to about $3.58 per gallon, according to data from the motorist advocacy group AAA.
Oil markets reacted sharply to the escalation in the war against Iran, raising fears that inflation could accelerate further.
Rising prices are already a sensitive political issue ahead of the mid-term elections.
At the same time, the human cost of the conflict is becoming more visible.
American casualties are mounting and flag-draped coffins have begun returning to US military bases. Images of body bags arriving from the war against Iran are increasingly circulating across television and social media.
The combination of rising inflation and returning casualties has intensified political debate inside the US.
Within Mr Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement, the conflict has triggered a growing rift.
Some factions strongly support Israel and favour continued military pressure on Iran. Others argue that the war against Iran contradicts Mr Trump’s earlier promises to avoid costly foreign wars.
US political commentators emphasise that the rift between the pro- and anti-Zionists within the MAGA movement has become more pronounced than ever.
When Senator Lindsey Graham claimed that he pushed the president to the war, at the behest of Mr Netanyahu, he gave further fodder to the anti-Zionist MAGA supporters.
Meanwhile, this war has also isolated the pro-Zionist Democrats, with a large number of young liberals rallying around anti-Zionist figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Meanwhile, due to Mr Trump’s feud with the mainstream American media, the latter has not been pumping support for the war efforts, unlike in the past. Rather, The New York Times has shown the gory optics of an American missile killing 165 girls in an elementary school at the beginning of the campaign. It has helped in polarising public mood, analysts argue.
Geopolitical consequences
The war against Iran is also reshaping geopolitics across West Asia.
Although Gulf monarchies have condemned Iranian attacks on US bases in their territory, none has joined the conflict directly. None had attacked Iran so far.
Diplomats say the restraint reflects domestic political pressure as well as quiet mediation efforts by China and Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally contacted several Gulf leaders, urging them to avoid escalation. China, one of the region’s largest oil customers, has also pushed for stability in energy markets. As China secures its fuel delivery, none of the Gulf monarchies showed any attempt to upset Beijing. This further insulated Iran, China’s strategic partner and a fellow BRICS member.
The conflict has also exposed vulnerabilities in US air-defence systems deployed across the region.
Iranian strikes have damaged several installations and challenged the effectiveness of systems such as Patriot, THAAD and Israel’s Iron Dome.
Military analysts say rival powers, China and Russia, are closely studying the US-Israeli war against Iran to identify weaknesses in American defence networks. With the Chinese and Russian satellite feeds, a consistent supply of yuan and military intelligence sharing, Iran has emerged stronger in this uneven battle.
This has blocked all possibilities for Mr Trump, forcing his advisors to negotiate with Iran.
Such lessons could shape future conflicts, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, where tensions with China continue to rise.
Washington looks for an exit
For Tehran, the confrontation with Washington represents the culmination of decades of hostility dating back to the 1979 Islamic revolution.
For Mr Trump, the war against Iran has become something very different: a conflict that is growing harder to justify politically at home while delivering diminishing strategic returns abroad.
Military losses are mounting. Inflation driven by rising oil prices is squeezing American households. And images of flag-draped coffins arriving from the war against Iran are beginning to circulate widely across American media.
Together, these pressures are narrowing the administration’s options.
According to officials familiar with internal discussions, senior figures inside the White House are now exploring ways to reduce the intensity of the conflict and move toward a ceasefire—while publicly declaring that American objectives have already been achieved.
Although no deadlines are fixed, a junior White House official, on the condition of anonymity, claims that the president will take the final call, while considering Israeli interests, by March 15th. However, it’s unpredictable when Mr Trump will announce it. Also, White House is apprehensive about possible Israeli reactions and how American Zionists would react.
Mr Trump’s advisors believe this exit strategy would allow Washington to claim success while quietly stepping back from the war against Iran.
Whether Tehran will accept such an outcome remains uncertain. Dr Pezeshkian has clearly mentioned Iran needs all sanctions lifted, payment of reparations, and an international guarantee of no further attacks from the US-Israel nexus.
As Mr Trump prepares for American surrender, the strategic balance of the conflict has shifted in ways few in Washington expected.
An assassination intended to weaken Iran’s leadership instead strengthened its narrative of resistance.
A military campaign meant to demonstrate American power has exposed its vulnerabilities.
And a war against Iran launched with confidence is now becoming a conflict the US increasingly appears eager to leave behind.
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