Trump says war with Iran could end in 'two weeks, maybe three'

WASHINGTON, United States, April 5 ------ US President Donald Trump said that the war with Iran may be over in two or three weeks, and it will be up to other countries to secure the vital Strait of Hormuz oil shipping channel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said meanwhile that the joint campaign against what he called Iran's "terror regime" had "changed the face of the Middle East." The US and Israeli leaders' comments came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the president of the European Council that Tehran had the "necessary will" to end the war, provided its enemies guaranteed it would not flare up again.

In Lebanon, Israel kept pounding against Iran-backed Hezbollah as it mourned four Israeli soldiers killed in the country's south. The Lebanese health ministry said early Wednesday that seven people were killed in Israeli strikes in south Beirut and a nearby area, with Israel's military saying a senior Hezbollah commander and another senior "terrorist" had been struck.

The day prior, Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed at least eight people, one of them a paramedic, the health ministry said, with the total death toll in the country now over 1,200, with over a million displaced.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday that Israel would occupy a swathe of southern Lebanon even after the conflict ends, and that "all the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished." US stocks meanwhile, surged on hopes that a resolution to the month-long war may be in sight, as Brent oil futures finished down 3.2 percent at $103.97 per barrel.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said the United States would be leaving Iran "very soon," perhaps within "two weeks, maybe three." "But we're finishing the job," he insisted. "We want to knock out every single thing they have," Trump said, before adding that "it's possible that we'll make a deal before that." Trump has zigzagged previously on whether Washington plans to escalate the war that has roiled the world economy -- possibly by deploying American ground forces -- or try to end it through negotiations with Tehran.

Source: philstar.com