Trump declares war with Iran is ‘close to over’

US President Donald Trump believes the war with Iran is “close to over”.

Mr Trump told the Fox Business Network he viewed the conflict as nearing completion and said Iran was keen to make a deal.

“If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country,” he said in an interview which is due to be broadcast on Wednesday.

“And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”

Mr Trump has declared a US victory in Iran repeatedly since mere days after the war started and earlier told the New York Post a second round of talks could happen “over the next two days” and that the negotiations could be held again in the capital of Pakistan.

The US military claimed on Tuesday that it has successfully begun to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports.

Tehran threatened to strike targets across the region, a day after Mr Trump warned on social media that any Iranian warships nearing the blockade would be destroyed in a “quick and brutal” strike.

The US military said it has achieved “maritime superiority” in the Middle East and that the blockade on Iranian ports had been “fully implemented” within 36 hours of its launch, according to a social media post by the US Central Command.

The statement quoted Central Command head Admiral Brad Cooper as saying the US had halted all sea trade going in and out of Iran.

Vice president JD Vance told an event in Georgia that Mr Trump “doesn’t want to make, like, a small deal. He wants to make the grand bargain”.

“That’s the trade that he’s offering,” he said. “If you guys commit to not having a nuclear weapon, we are going to make Iran thrive.”

Pakistan finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told The Associated Press on Tuesday “our leadership is not giving up” on its efforts to help the US and Iran negotiate.

“We would very much like to see if we can continue to pursue the dialogue,” he added, speaking on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. “We’ll keep at it, and our leadership is at it.”

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said it is “highly probable” that talks will restart. He cited a meeting he had with Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar.

In Washington, the first direct talks in decades between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the US concluded on a productive note, according to the US state department.

Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter said the two countries were “on the same side of the equation” in “liberating Lebanon” from the militant Hezbollah group.

Lebanese ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad called the meeting “constructive” but urged an end to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

An Israeli drone strike in Gaza killed six more Palestinians, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed on Tuesday to 11, according to health officials at Shifa hospital.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants in the area.