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Middle East crisis live: Trump claims Iran’s president has asked US for a ceasefire | US-Israel war on Iran
Trump claims Iran’s president has asked US for a ceasefire
The US would only consider a ceasefire with Iran if the Hormuz strait opens, Donald Trump has declared on social media.
He said Iran had asked for a ceasefire, writing:
Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE! We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!! President DJT
Key events
Trump repeats claims of Iran ‘regime change’
Reuters has published further remarks from Donald Trump in its phone interview with the US president.
When asked if he was thinking about pulling the US out of Nato, he said: “Oh, absolutely without question. Wouldn’t you do that if you were me?”
He added: “They haven’t been friends when we needed them. We’ve never asked them for much … it’s a one-way street.”
He also expressed his hope for a deal with the new leaders in Iran after airstrikes killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
He again claimed that there has been a “full regime change” in Iran, adding: “I’m dealing with a very good chance that we’ll make a deal because they don’t want to be blasted anymore.
“I didn’t need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change and the big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. Nor do they want one.”
As for the enriched uranium still possessed by Iran, Trump said: “That’s so far underground, I don’t care about that.
“We’ll always be watching it by satellite.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has acknowledged the attack on an oil tanker in Qatari waters, alleging that it had ties to Israel.
As reported earlier, the Qatari defence ministry said the Aqua 1 fuel oil tanker leased to the state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile. There were no reports of injuries and the 21 crew members escaped unharmed.
In a statement carried by Iranian state media, the IRGC said an oil tanker belonging to the “Zionist regime with the trade name ’Aqua 1’” in the the Persian Gulf “was precisely targeted”.
It was not immediately clear what links the oil tanker have to Israel.
In further news alerts, Reuters reported Trump as saying Iran will not have a nuclear weapon “nor do they want one”.
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, with leaders citing a religious decree (known as a fatwa) against weapons of mass destruction. The US and Israel have always disputed this claim.
Trump says US will be ‘out of Iran pretty quickly’ – Reuters
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Donald Trump said the US will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” but could return for “spot hits”.
Ahead of his scheduled national address this evening, the US president said he would express his disgust with Nato over what he described as its lack of support for his war objectives against Iran. He added that he was “absolutely” considering an attempt to withdraw the US from the alliance, according to Reuters.
He did not give a timeline of when the US could end the war, saying: “I can’t tell you exactly… we’re going to be out pretty quickly.”
He added: “They [Iran] won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have to we’ll come back to do spot hits.”
Dan Sabbagh
British counter drone crews in northern Iraq downed over 10 Iranian drones overnight, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
Attacks have continued seemingly undimmed over the past month, with some or more aimed at western bases, previously for troops engaged in counter Islamic State operations before the US and Israel attacked Iran.
It was not clear what Donald Trump meant by “Iran’s new regime president”, as there has been no recent change in that role. Masoud Pezeshkian remains the Iranian president, a role he has served since 2024.
Trump claims Iran’s president has asked US for a ceasefire
The US would only consider a ceasefire with Iran if the Hormuz strait opens, Donald Trump has declared on social media.
He said Iran had asked for a ceasefire, writing:
Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE! We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!! President DJT
Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus and its surrounding areas, state TV al Ekhbariyah reported on Wednesday.
The network said that that the blasts were likely caused by Israeli air defences intercepting Iranian missiles.
Iranian authorities warned Nato member Bulgaria last month not to let the US use its airports for planes participating in military operations in Iran, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Stanislav Balabanov, a deputy with the ‘There is Such People’ party, showed a note from 18 March in which the Iranian government protested against US military refuelling planes parked at Bulgaria’s Vasil Levski airport.
In the note, Iran said it “reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, security and national interests in accordance with international law.” Later on Wednesday, in a statement to reporters, deputy foreign minister Marin Raikov confirmed the note and said: “Bulgaria is not at war.“
“No combat aircraft are being loaded over Bulgaria to participate in military operations,” he told reporters. “We maintain intact diplomatic relations with the Iranian side.“
The new supreme leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, has issued a message of gratitude to Hezbollah’s secretary general, Naim Qassem.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, he praised Hezbollah for its “perseverance, steadfastness and patience” against “the most ruthless enemies of the Islamic world”, as he vowed Iran will continue to support groups fighting US and Israeli forces across the Middle East.
Khamenei has not been seen since the war began on 28 February and has only issued written statements since becoming Iran’s new supreme leader. US and Israeli officials believe he was wounded in the attack that killed six of his family members, including his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and remains in hiding.
Here are some of the latest images from across the Middle East:
The Israeli military claimed to have killed a Hezbollah commander who was responsible for the group’s military activity in southern Lebanon.
In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Yusuf Ismail Hashem was killed in a strike in Beirut yesterday. It described Hashem as a “senior commander with 40+ years of experience” and that he was “a central figure in Hezbollah”.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the reported killing.
The IDF has escalated its attacks in southern Lebanon as Hezbollah continues to fight an Israeli ground invasion. Israel said it will occupy swathes of southern Lebanon and destroy the homes along the border to prevent the return of about 600,000 people, prompting concerns of long-term forced displacement.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said that when fighting with Hezbollah ended, Israel would occupy the area under the Litani River, about 19 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, as part of its so-called buffer zone inside southern Lebanon.
Ebrahim Azizi, the chair of the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, has mocked Donald Trump for declaring “regime change” in Iran, saying the only change the US has achieved in the war is losing access to the strait of Hormuz.
In a post on X, he said:
Trump has finally achieved his dream of ‘regime change’—but in the region’s maritime regime!
The strait of Hormuz will certainly reopen, but not for you; it will be open for those who comply with the new laws of Iran.
Taz Ali
Donald Trump said he will wrap up his military campaign against Iran in two to three weeks and that a deal is not necessary to end the conflict.
“We will be leaving very soon,” he told reporters in the Oval Office last night.
The White House said the US president will provide “an important update” during a national address this evening at 9pm Washington time (2am BST). While it is unclear what updates he will provide on the war, questions remain over whether the US has achieved its shifting objectives since launching a joint attack with Israel against Iran more than four weeks ago.
Trump said on Monday that he has already achieved regime change by killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even though he has been replaced by his son, Mojtaba. Other key Iranian officials have been killed since the outbreak of the war, but critics say a change in Iran’s leadership does not constitute a regime change.
“What we are seeing in Iran is not a regime change — but a transformation within the regime itself, one that has made it more extreme,” Danny Citrinowicz, the Israeli military’s former top Iran researcher, posted on X.
Starmer says summit with EU later this year will lead to ‘more ambitious’ plans for cooperation
Andrew Sparrow
Keir Starmer said he will push for a closer relationship with the EU at a summit coming up later this year.
“We want to be more ambitious, closer economic cooperation, closer security cooperation, a partnership that recognises our shared values, our shared interest and our shared future,” he said in a press conference in Downing Street.
When asked by a reporter whether a closer relationship with the EU is an acknowledgment that the relationship with the US is changing, Starmer responded:
Firstly, Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen. And it has kept us safe for many decades. And we are fully committed to Nato.
Secondly, that, whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I’m going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make.
And that’s why I’ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war, and we’re not going to get dragged into it.
But I’m equally clear that, when it comes to defence and security and our economic future, we have to have closer ties with Europe.
His remarks followed a Telegraph interview with Donald Trump, in which the US president said he was considering pulling the US out of Nato, and suggested the UK does not have a proper navy.
Trump’s frustration with Nato over its refusal to back his Iran war is clear – snap analysis
Jakub Krupa
Trump’s latest comments come as he increasingly hardens his language against European allies, blaming them for difficulties in his Iran operation.
In last days, he specifically targeted European allies, calling them “cowards” and telling them to “build up some delayed courage” and take control over the strait of Hormuz.
He and his senior officials also criticised a number of specific countries, particularly Spain, which has been most vocally critical of the US-Israeli war against Iran, and France.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned last night about the sharply escalating frustration with Nato, as he told Fox News: “We are going to have to reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose or has now become a one-way street, where America is simply in a position to help Europe but when we need the help of our allies, they deny us basing rights and overflight.”
Italy is the latest country to risk the US administration’s anger, after it has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.
For more on the impact of the war in Europe, follow our Europe live blog here:
Keir Starmer is giving an update on the Iran war at a press conference in Downing Street, where he sought to reassure the British public that the government is working on a plan to help with the cost of living.
“We will continue to stand up for the British national interest, and we continue to do what we must to guide our country calmly through this storm,” he said.
You can follow the live updates on our UK politics blog here:
