Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, President Trump bragged about his efforts to try to get the US “out of wars,” then warned that “we may have to get in wars, too. OK?“

Trump continued on talking about how ready the US is for a war with Iran, and how Iran will get hit “like they’ve never been hit before.” The implication is clear that Trump is nominally ending wars, but that America’s hawks will get fresh, new wars to replace them.

That’s likely a rather cynical political ploy, given how much political heat the administration is under for appearing to almost end the Syrian War. That war may not be ending, but offering to trade it for a much bigger Iran War would probably placate many critics.

It’s likely also related to Trump’s interest in portraying himself as generally tough and the best at war. That, and his fondness for threatening Iran with unprecedented horrors seem destined to keep threatening an Iran War forever a possibility.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all of this is, while Trump clearly elaborated in talking about Iran, he said “wars,” which suggests he may be envisioning multiple new military conflicts on the horizon.

But Trump did also say “wars” in the part where he was ending them, suggesting that in addition to Syria, a war which he isn’t ending by any stretch of the imagination, he may be going to do something that appears to end another extent conflict.