Trump: Iran war ‘ending fairly soon’ as Saudis down missiles over Riyadh
Donald Trump said he saw “momentum toward the end of this conflict” after hosting Qatar’s prime minister in the Oval Office, telling reporters: “I think it’s going to be ending fairly soon.” He described the war as “the status quo”, kept at “the behest of countries that are their neighbours”, and said new strikes were “highly unlikely” while America stayed “locked and loaded”. Hours later Saudi Arabia intercepted missiles over Riyadh.
“Iran militarily is effectively over,” the president said in the briefing room, adding that he would not declare the war finished because “we have some great allies there and we have to make sure they’re not hurt”. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he had held “positive discussions” with Mr Trump and JD Vance on “reaching a deal and bringing peace to the region”; Tehran, Mr Trump said, was “talking very politely”. On Truth Social he said the Gulf states “prefer the status quo” of a naval blockade plus the new Operation Iron Gate against overland arms routes, and Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, was reported to have accused Washington of “manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks”. The Gulf front is not quiet. Explosions were heard over Riyadh early on Tuesday as the coalition’s Turki al-Maliki reported a ballistic and a cruise missile destroyed over the capital and a second ballistic missile over the south; residents received shelter alerts. On Monday an attack caused a “limited fire” on the East–West pipeline in Medina region, with operations unaffected. Brent slipped below $92 in Asian trading. Watch whether Qatar’s two-day proposal survives Rezaei’s denial that talks exist.