US President Donald Trump said that the war against Iran "is largely over", while its economic cost is rising, the British newspaper "Guardian" wrote in the headline, BTA reported in the press review.
US and Israeli warplanes launched new waves of strikes on targets in Iran yesterday, while large crowds took to the streets in Tehran in support of Mojtaba Khamenei, the country's newly appointed supreme leader, the British publication notes.
The conflict, which has now entered its second week, continues to escalate, with new Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, US bases in the Middle East and energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.
In Lebanon, Israel continued its offensive Iran has been waging war against Hezbollah with attacks in the south of the country and airstrikes on Beirut, while an Iranian missile was shot down over Turkey. After drone strikes were reported again in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, French President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies were preparing a "defensive" mission in the Persian Gulf to protect oil supplies.
Thousands of people gathered in Tehran's iconic Engelab (Revolution) Square yesterday to swear allegiance to Iran's new supreme leader, hours after his appointment was officially announced.
Chants of "Death to America, Death to Israel" and "Allah is Great", some waved Iranian flags, while others - banners with the portrait of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the father of the new leader, who was killed after 37 years in power by an Israeli air strike in the first minutes of the war.
Donald Trump says war in Iran will end "very soon", another British publication, the "Financial Times", headlines.
Trump said the US war on Iran would end "very soon" to try to calm the chaos in oil markets that has led to the highest prices in the last four years and poses a threat to the global economy, the British publication notes.
Speaking from his Doral resort near Miami, the US president described the war that the US has been waging against Iran since February 28 as a "little excursion" that has reaped successes "much sooner than expected", but declined to say when it would end.
His comments yesterday came after oil prices rose about 30% to nearly $120 a barrel in early Asian trading, shaking stock markets and raising concerns about the impact of the war on the global economy.
The historic surge prompted G7 finance ministers to hold an emergency meeting to discuss measures to stabilize energy markets.
Following the US president's statement yesterday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said: "Iran will determine when the war will end".
IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said the Revolutionary Guards "will not allow a single barrel of oil to be exported from the region" to hostile countries and their partners until further notice, given the ongoing US and Israeli strikes.
Trump later responded on his social network "Truth Social", promising to hit Iran "TWENTY TIMES HARDER than it has been hit before" if it "does something" to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military said yesterday that it had struck more than 5,000 targets in Iran in 10 days of war, including ballistic missile and drone bases, Iranian warships and buildings belonging to the IRGC.
Oil prices soared as Trump sent mixed messages about what lies ahead in the Iran war, the US newspaper "Washington Post" wrote in a headline.
With the statements Trump has fueled the instability. Over the weekend, he wrote on social media that the surge in oil prices was a "small price to pay" for battlefield victories in Iran, but he differed at a news conference last night.
Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday that the United States was offering insurance to oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, an initiative first announced last week when he also said that U.S. forces could offer military escorts to ships in the region.
The Trump administration has tried to lower oil prices by easing some sanctions on Russia. It has granted a waiver that allows India to buy Russian oil for 30 days, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has said that further sanctions relief is possible, according to the Washington Post.
Donald Trump seeks a way out of the war in Iran, but finds it difficult to outline it, the French newspaper "Le Monde" headlines.
From Florida, the American president praised Washington's military successes, but did not outline a clear perspective for a way out of the conflict, leaving the impression that he is improvising, the French publication notes.
The United States has not yet finished its "little excursion" in Iran, but this will happen "in the short term," Trump said, without setting specific deadlines. He tried to reassure the American public, as well as the rest of the world, about the ongoing war, which is causing serious disruptions in trade and energy. The American president praised the successes already achieved in the war. However, he did not outline any clear prospects for a way out of the conflict, leaving the impression that he was improvising depending on the development of events, Le Monde reports.
However, hopes for a short-term solution to the crisis are fading. The US president has threatened the Iranian regime if it does not stop attacking energy infrastructure in the region. He mentioned the possibility of the US destroying Iran's infrastructure if this does not happen. "If we attack them, it will take many years to rebuild them," he said, referring in particular to the "electricity generation" facilities. Trump stressed that it was impossible to "allow a terrorist regime to take the world hostage and try to stop oil supplies." He went so far as to present himself as a defender of the entire world, and of Chinese interests in particular, by committing to guaranteeing the maritime safety of tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, notes "Monde".
When asked about the reservations of his Vice President J.D. Vance, who has hardly spoken publicly since the beginning of the war, Trump acknowledged for the first time the friction between them. "I would say that he was a little different from me conceptually. I think he was perhaps less enthusiastic about the idea of getting involved, but he was still quite enthusiastic". However, Vance was apparently not enthusiastic enough to say so publicly, concludes "Monde".