Iran war is ‘close to over’: Trump says

“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over,” Trump told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo when asked if the war is “over.” A video excerpt of the interview was shared on US social media company X.

“You know what, 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,” Trump added.

Earlier, Bartiromo said in a video on Instagram that Trump repeatedly referred to the Iran war in the past tense during their interview, prompting her to ask directly: “Is it over?”

“He said: ‘It’s over,’” Bartiromo said, describing the exchange.

Talks were held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad over the weekend to permanently end the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on Feb. 28, but an agreement could not be reached. Efforts to hold another round of talks are underway.

Trump struck an upbeat tone on the prospects for the resumption of direct US-Iranian talks, saying on Tuesday that they could restart in Pakistan within the next two days.

Pakistan brokered a two-week ceasefire on April 8, which is still holding.