Trump claims war will end in ‘two or three weeks
US president Donald Trump said securing the Strait of Hormuz is “not for us” and estimated that the US will be done attacking Iran in two to three weeks.
Trump said the US “will not have anything to do with” what happens in the strait, instead telling reporters on Tuesday that the responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open will rest with countries that rely on it.
The president said there is “no reason for us to do this”.
“That’s not for us. That’ll be for France. That’ll be for whoever’s using the strait,” Trump said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump lashed out at US allies such as the United Kingdom and France for not doing more to support the American efforts in the Iran war.
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” he wrote.
Spain, which has emerged as Europe’s loudest critic of the war, said on Monday that it had closed its airspace for US planes involved in the conflict.
The White House said the president would deliver a prime-time address on Wednesday evening to update the public on the war.
Iran foreign minister in contact with Witkoff
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has acknowledged receiving direct messages from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
In an interview with Al Jazeera aired late on Tuesday, he said: “I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations.
“We do not have any faith that negotiations with the US will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”
Asked about a possible ground offensive by the US, Araghchi said “we are waiting for them.”
“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” he told the Qatar-based broadcaster. “In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake.”
Rubio says US should ‘re-examine’ Nato relationship
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said Washington could see the “finish line” in the Iran war, which is now in its fifth week, and the US will have to reexamine ties with Nato after the conflict.
“We can see the finish line. It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming,” Rubio told Fox News Channel’s Hannity show.
The war began on February 28th when the US and Israel attacked Iran. Tehran responded by launching its own attacks on Israel and Gulf states with US bases.
Joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. The war has also raised oil prices and shaken global markets.
Rubio said there were messages being exchanged between Iran and the US and there is the potential to have a “direct meeting at some point” between the two sides.
“There are messages being exchanged, there are talks going on. There is the potential for direct meeting at some point,” Rubio said.
Donald Trump - who has offered shifting timelines and objectives for the war, ranging from toppling Iran’s government to weakening its military and regional influence - said on Tuesday the US could end its military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks.
Rubio said “that there’s nothing any government is doing, or any country in the world is doing now to help Iran that is in any way impeding our mission.”
He added Washington will have to reexamine its relations with Nato after the Iran war.
“Ultimately, that’s a decision for the president to make, and he’ll have to make it,” Rubio said.
“But I do think, unfortunately, we are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose, or has it now become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe, but when we need the help of our allies, they’re going to deny us basing rights, and they’re going to deny us overflight,” he added in reference to use of military bases.
European leaders have refused to get directly involved in military attacks against Iran.
Strikes reported across Middle East as war rages
Large numbers of aerial attacks have been reported in various parts of the Middle East on Wednesday, with drones hitting fuel tanks at Kuwait’s international airport causing a big blaze and authorities in Bahrain reporting a fire at an undisclosed company facility from an Iranian assault.
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile near the Qatari capital Doha causing damage to the hull at the waterline, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, adding the crew were safe.
Explosions were heard in multiple areas of Tehran early Wednesday after US-Israeli air attacks, Iranian state media reported, adding that its air defences were activated.
Israel’s military said early on Wednesday it had carried out a “wide-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran. Separately, it said an Israeli military drone had been downed by a surface-to-air missile during operational activity in southern Lebanon overnight on Tuesday.
Shahid Haghani Port, Iran’s largest passenger terminal located in Bandar Abbas port on the Gulf, was hit by an overnight air strike but there were no casualties, the deputy governor Ahmad Nafisi told state media, calling it a “criminal” attack against civilian infrastructure.
Israel said early on Wednesday it had also struck a plant supplying Iran with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons programme.
Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations. The strike happened on Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.
Gulf countries, some home to US bases, have been repeatedly fired on by Tehran during the US-Israeli war, with concerns mounting about Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and ability to use the vital waterway, a conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, as a bargaining chip.
Oil markets were subdued as trading resumed in Asia on Wednesday but stocks and bonds rallied at the start of the session on hopes of a de-escalation.
The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 2.7 poer cent after a four-day losing streak as the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.9 per cent at one point.
