The Iran war is “very close to over” with authorities in Tehran eager to agree a peace deal, US President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
“We’ve beaten them militarily, totally,” Trump told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” in a prerecorded interview. “I think it’s close to over, I view it as very close to over. … If I pulled up stakes right now it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country, and we’re not finished.”
“We’ll see what happens, I think they want to make a deal very badly,” he added.
The president’s latest comments come amid growing market optimism that a diplomatic solution to the US-Iran war can be found, despite the failure of peace talks last weekend.
The Associated Press, citing regional officials, reported Wednesday morning that the US and Iran have an “in principle agreement” to extend their fragile two-week ceasefire in order to allow for more diplomacy.
But a senior US official told CNBC that the US “has not formally agreed to an extension of the ceasefire.”
“There is continued engagement between the US and Iran to reach a deal,” added the official, whospoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s internal plans.
Multiple news outlets have reported that negotiations could restart before the ceasefire is set to expire next week. A White House official told CNBC on Tuesday morning that a second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran was under discussion, though nothing had been officially scheduled as of that time.
Trump later Tuesday told the New York Post that fresh US-Iran talks in Islamabad “could be happening over the next two days.”
In the Fox Business interview that aired Wednesday, Trump downplayed global market turbulence sparked by the war and said oil prices, which have soared due to supply disruptions, would soon fall.
He again defended US military operations against Iran, saying, “We have to stop them from ever having a nuclear weapon.”
Trump predicted that when the war was over, the “stock market is going to boom, it’s already booming.”
As the Trump administration mulls further talks with Tehran, Washington has forged ahead with its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital maritime passage largely controlled by Iran.