Trump says Iran war ‘pretty much’ over, progressing ahead of schedule – World

US President Donald Trump indicated for the first time on Monday that US military operations in Iran may be coming to an end, saying the war was “very complete” and moving ahead of schedule.

The war had sent stock markets tumbling and oil prices rising again on Monday, when Tehran, under new leader Mojtaba Khamenei, fired a fresh barrage of missiles at its Gulf neighbors and signaled that the strategic Strait of Hormuz would likely remain closed.

But Wall Street jumped into positive territory on Monday after Trump’s comments, despite the lack of details on any solution to the conflict still raging in the Middle East.

“I think the war is practically complete. They have no navy, no communications, no air force,” Trump said. CBS News over the phone, repeating the battle damage assessments he has given in previous days.

Trump told the US broadcaster that the United States was “a long way off” from his initially set deadline for the war of four or five weeks.

On the first day in power for the 56-year-old son of slain leader Ali Khamenei, Iranian troops launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

Another missile was also fired at NATO member Turkey, the second such incident in five days, and the alliance’s air defenses intercepted it before it could reach its target.

With the Strait of Hormuz off Iran blocked to almost all tankers, the price of benchmark crude oil contracts soared past $100 a barrel on Monday – its highest levels since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – before retreating slightly.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country and its allies were working on a “purely defensive” mission to reopen the strait, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil usually transits.

The mission would aim to escort the ships “after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict,” but experts say it would mean putting Navy vessels at risk of incoming fire from the nearby Iranian coast.

Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, said cnn that Tehran was calculating that “economic pressure will increase as other countries intervene” to end the war.

Benchmark oil prices have risen 40 to 50 percent since the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran on February 28, while stock markets around the world are down, hitting pension funds and savings.

Inflation caused by a sustained oil crisis would also drive up the price of goods for consumers everywhere.

Queues at gas stations have been seen as far away as Vietnam and the Philippines as drivers anticipate higher prices, while Hungary and Croatia in the EU announced caps on fuel prices.

Demonstrations

Iran faced a fresh barrage of American and Israeli attacks after its Assembly of Experts, the top clerical body, named its first new supreme leader in 37 years.

Iranian state media on Monday broadcast images of tens of thousands of people celebrating the election of Mojtaba Khamenei in central Tehran, many of them holding his photograph.

Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon pledged loyalty, while Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday pledged “unwavering support.”

Unconfirmed US media reports over the weekend said Moscow has been providing targeting intelligence to the Islamic republic’s military.

Trump told the New York Post According to the newspaper, he was “not happy” with Khamenei’s appointment, while Israel’s Foreign Ministry called him a “tyrant.”

Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said AFP The new supreme leader was a hardline man who had “been involved in all of the most violent repressions that have taken place in the last 15 or 16 years.”

Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the appointment was aimed at sending a defiant message that Trump’s war “has only replaced one Khamenei with another.”

Oil risks

Oil traders, policymakers and central bankers are keeping an eye on the Middle East for news on the Gulf’s energy infrastructure, which is crucial to the global economy.

About 10 ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz have been attacked since Iran blocked the waterway in retaliation for the attack by the United States and Israel, shipping experts say.

Global shipping giant MSC announced it would formally stop some export shipments from the Gulf, meaning goods on ships would be unloaded.

Following attacks on Bahrain’s Al Ma’ameer oil facility that sparked a fire, the country’s state-owned energy company, Bapco, joined its counterparts in Qatar and Kuwait in declaring “force majeure,” a warning that events beyond its control may lead it to miss its export targets.

The Saudi Defense Ministry said on Monday it had thwarted a drone attack targeting an oil field in the east of the kingdom, near the border with the Emirates.