Trump says Iran war could end soon

President Donald Trump said the war with Iran could end soon, telling the world to watch out for an "amazing two days," while US forces imposing a blockade turned back vessels leaving Iranian ports.

With the ‌prospect of US and Iranian officials returning to Pakistan for more talks, Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation at negotiations that ended on Sunday without a breakthrough, said he ​felt positive about where things ⁠stood.

"I think you're going to be watching an amazing two days ahead," Trump told ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, according to a post by ‌the reporter on X, adding he did not think ‌it would be necessary to extend a two-week ceasefire that expires next week.

"I think it can be over very soon. It will end soon," Trump said in a separate interview taped on Tuesday with Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" and aired on Wednesday.

Officials from Pakistan, Iran and several Gulf states also said negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad later this week.

Iran's foreign ministry said it was likely ‌that a Pakistani delegation would arrive in Iran on Wednesday and pass on messages from Washington.

TANKERS INTERCEPTED

The US military said more vessels were being turned back under the blockade, including the US-sanctioned, Chinese-owned tanker Rich Starry which was seen heading back through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.

Eight Iran-linked oil tankers have been intercepted since the blockade began on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A US destroyer stopped two oil tankers attempting to leave the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, a US official said.

An Iranian ​supertanker subject to US sanctions crossed the strait towards Iran's Imam Khomeini port despite the blockade, Iran's Fars News Agency said on Wednesday, possibly returning to port empty. It did ‌not identify the tanker or give further details of its voyage.

Iran's joint military command warned it would act to disrupt trade flows in the Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea — which connects to the Suez Canal — if the US blockade continued.

The semi-official Mehr news agency said Iran would use alternative ports away from its southern coastline to bypass the blockade, while another Iranian outlet cited shipping sources ⁠as saying maritime traffic was continuing normally.

RETURN TO ISLAMABAD

Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday that his negotiators were likely to return to Pakistan, thanks largely to the "great job" Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing to moderate the talks.

Speaking later at an event in Georgia, Vice President Vance said Trump wanted to make a "grand bargain" with Iran but there was a lot of mistrust between the two countries.

Reuters