President Trump Announces Iran War Is Close To Over

Six weeks into a war that much of the world said would spiral out of control, President Trump is saying something remarkable.

“We’ve beaten them militarily, totally,” he told Fox Business Network on Wednesday. “I think it’s close to over. I view it as very close to over.”

And looking at what’s actually happening on the ground — and at sea — it’s getting hard to argue with him.

The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is holding completely. Iran can’t move a single ship. Peace talks are being discussed again. And markets are reacting like a deal is coming.

Blockade fully implemented. Not partially. Fully. And it’s not just holding — it’s working exactly as designed.

Ten ships turned around. Zero have broken through. When Trump says he’s squeezing Iran, that’s not talk. That’s real-time pressure measured in vessels redirected at sea.

The Washington Times laid out exactly what Trump said in the Fox Business interview — and some of it is pretty direct:

“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to over,” Mr. Trump told Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria” in a clip posted Wednesday.

“If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished,” Mr. Trump said. “We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”

“I had to divert because if I didn’t do that, right now, you’d have Iran with a nuclear weapon,” he told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “And if they had a nuclear weapon, you’d be calling everybody over there ‘sir,’ and you don’t want to do that.”

“When [the war is] settled, gas prices are going to go down tremendously,” Mr. Trump said, predicting they would be low again by the midterm elections.

He also predicted the stock market is “going to boom” once the war ends. Given how markets have been climbing this week on peace talk optimism, that’s not exactly a wild call.

Trump’s also watching China closely. He wrote Xi Jinping a letter demanding Beijing stop arming Iran — and Xi reportedly denied doing it. But the administration isn’t taking anyone’s word for it.

Secondary sanctions on Chinese banks if Iranian money is found flowing through their accounts. That’s maximum pressure applied to multiple fronts at the same time.

CNBC reported on where the ceasefire and peace talks actually stand right now:

The Associated Press, citing regional officials, reported Wednesday morning that the U.S. and Iran have an “in principle agreement” to extend their fragile two-week ceasefire in order to allow for more diplomacy.

Multiple news outlets have reported that negotiations could restart before the ceasefire is set to expire next week. Trump later Tuesday told the New York Post that fresh U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad “could be happening over the next two days.”

Trump downplayed global market turbulence sparked by the war and said oil prices, which have soared due to supply disruptions, would soon fall. Trump predicted that when the war was over, the “stock market is going to boom, it’s already booming.”

In-principle deal to extend the ceasefire. Talks about to restart. A blockade Iran can’t crack. Gas prices on their way back down once it’s over.

Trump said from day one he was going to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and bring them to the table. Looks like he’s doing exactly that.