'Lot of confusion': CNN host left spinning by 3-hour wave of Trump contradictions

CNN's Sara Sidner struggled to make sense of President Donald Trump's seemingly contradictory statements about how long the Iran war might last.

The 79-year-old president declared the war "pretty much" complete in a phone interview Monday, but hours later told Republican lawmakers "we haven't won enough" to ensure long-term security — but then assured them he considered the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation a "short-term excursion."

"In the span of about three hours yesterday, the president, at times, the messaging on Iran seemed to be at one point that the end is near," reported CNN's Alayna Treene, "essentially, that he believes that the United States objectives in Iran were soon to be concluded. But then at other points, he said that they could go much further, and you played that clip, but he did that again later, particularly in answering reporters' questions. I want you to listen to what he said."

Trump was asked to clarify a discrepancy between his declaration that the war was nearly complete, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier said it was still in the early stages, and the president said both positions were accurate because he believed it would take a long time to rebuild Iran.

"I think that really showcases the president's ability to kind of say two completely different things in the same breath," Treene said. " ... Other things that the president did that I think are important to note here. One, he talked about the new supreme leader in Iran, saying that he was very disappointed with that selection, and he told reporters that he thinks it's going to, quote, 'lead to just more of the same problem for the country we are just seeing.'"

"Two, that the president spoke in a new interview with Fox News, essentially saying that the new Ayatollah Khamenei cannot live in peace," she continued. "So unclear exactly what that means about what the United States might try to do about it, and another thing that is clear despite all of the conflicting messages about the timeline for the U.S. in Iran, is oil prices and gas prices are spiking, and the politics of this are quickly changing, and I think that's why we saw the president kind of hastily arrange this press conference yesterday after the markets closed."

"One of the biggest things we heard, as well from that, was that he said that the United States would respond even more forcefully if Iran tried to upend the world's global oil supply," Treene added, "and he said simultaneously, you know projecting that this would still be a short timeline. So a lot of questions, of course, I think more questions than answers after that press conference yesterday. We'll have to see how the Pentagon really responds to all of this in an hour or so."

Sidner attempted to sum up her colleague's reporting.

"It certainly eyebrow-raising when you hear him say, well, it could take longer because we're rebuilding a country which is nation building, which means regime change, which means this could go on and on and on," Sidner said. "A lot of confusion as to exactly the timeline here, and hopefully we'll hear something about this during the Pentagon press conference."

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