President Donald Trump expresses his belief that the Iran War “is very close to over,” according to video clips of an interview with FOX Business Network’s “Morning with Maria.”
“I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over,” President Trump remarks during one of the snippets of the taped interview.
“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,” President Trump added.
Since the beginning of “Operation Epic Fury,” President Trump has declared victory for the U.S. despite the war’s nearly 7-week-long duration.
The interview is scheduled to air on Wednesday Apr. 14, 2026.
U.S. Official Confirms Blockade of Gulf of Oman
As another round of negotiations between the parties awaits, an anonymous U.S. official informed The Associated Press (AP) of the U.S. military’s strategy to conduct a U.S. Navy blockade in the Gulf of Oman amid the current impasse of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the official, the U.S. military will observe ships subject to the impasse exit Iranian facilities and vacate the Strait of Hormuz “before intercepting them and forcing them to turn around.”
The source affirmed that the U.S. military “relies on more than” the automated AIS tracking beacons required for all merchant vessels to determine which merchant ships traverse from Iranian ports, but did not elaborate on the additional measures nor on “what the military would do should they need to board and capture a ship,” The AP reported.
Pakistan Official Expresses Resilience Towards Peace Talks
During an interview with The AP, Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that “our leadership is not giving up” as it works to help the U.S. and Iran finalize an agreement.
“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,” Aurangzeb stated.
