Donald Trump rules out ‘early end’ to war after blasting Iran offer

Donald Trump has suggested he may be ‘better off’ not making a deal at all Iran after rejecting Tehran’s latest offer.

The US president insisted the options were to either ‘make a deal’ or ‘blast the hell’ out of Iran and ‘finish them forever’, as he hinted the dispute could last some time.

On Friday, Trump informed US House Speaker Mike Johnson that hostilities, which began at the end of February, had now ‘terminated’.

But he added that it was still ‘treasonous’ to suggest the US was not winning the war in the Gulf, CNN reported.

‘They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens,’ he said.

Despite refusing to rule out further military intervention, when asked if he wanted to go in heavy on Iran, the president replied: ‘I’d prefer not.’

The president cited Iran’s ‘disjointed’ and ‘messed-up’ leadership as among the reasons progress was not currently being made.

It comes as the US has withdrawn 5,000 troops from Germany in a further sign of a growing gulf between America and Europe.

The move was a response to comments from German chancellor Friedrich Merz that the US was being ‘humiliated’ by Iran.

As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to commercial traffic, governments worldwide have begun to draft contingency plans to try to mitigate the economic impact from any potential disruption to supply chains.

Sir Keir Starmer said that as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, the ‘green shoots’ that were growing in Britain’s economy in January were now in danger of withering again.

The PM told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that while he would not ‘drag’ the UK into the war, action must be taken to curb its effects.

He said: ‘My strong view is that many, many voters are frustrated they haven’t seen the change we want to see in this country.’

‘Each time we have a crisis like this, the government of the day aspires to get back to the status quo as soon as possible, but the status quo isn’t working. We have to take a different course in response to this crisis.’

Starmer added that a closer relationship to the EU would help create an economy which can better withstand ‘global shocks’.

‘All the indicators are that the world is going to get more volatile, not less volatile’, he said.

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