The speech was unusually short for Trump and contained little news. It was followed by rising oil prices and falling stock markets.
It was a speech that just tried to summarize some of what he had said before, I think, Blanck says.
No reassuring messages
No proposals were presented on how Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz should be handled.
The US doesn't need the Strait of Hormuz, so then you can arrange it, make sure it opens then, Trump told the allies, Blanck says.
There was also no clarification regarding Trump's previous threat to leave the NATO defense alliance. Blanck notes that Trump completely avoided mentioning NATO in the speech, despite previous speculation to the contrary.
Regarding the US's motives for the war, the focus was on Trump wanting to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and on defeating the country's military capabilities, according to Blanck.
Trump himself continued in the speech to describe the war as successful, and he flagged massive bombing for another 2–3 weeks.
The Iran war has – since the US and Israel began bombing on February 28 – become a hot issue among American voters.
It is an unpopular war domestically. Trump has support among his loyal supporters for this war. They stand by him. But if you look at public opinion, there is a majority against the war, not least because it has led to increases in the price of gasoline, Blanck says.
When gasoline costs over $4 per gallon (about 11 kronor per liter), it's not good, so to speak, he adds.
Has promised a short war
The question of when the war is over is crucial to how it affects voters ahead of this fall's congressional elections in the United States, according to Blanck.
He has promised that there will be a quick and short war here. The longer it goes on, the more negative it will be for him.
If the Democrats were to gain a majority in the House of Representatives in this fall's elections - as a result of dissatisfaction with, among other things, the Iran war - it would radically change the playing field in American politics, according to Blanck.
"Then we will see a lot of activity and a lot of things happening. It will be big problems for Trump," he says.
