Donald Trump has reportedly told world leaders that Iran is ‘about to surrender’ after nearly two weeks of bombardment.
The US president reportedly made the claim to world leaders from the G7 countries on Wednesday during a video call.
Three officials with knowledge of the bloc’s meeting, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US, claimed Trump boasted about the end of the war being near, according to Axios.
Trump said: ‘I got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all.’
He also claimed that Iran has no leaders left ‘so there is no one that can announce surrender.’
However, the POTUS appeared vague about the timeline for ending the conflict, which started after the joint US-Israel bombing of Tehran, killing the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his compound.
Trump reportedly didn’t give a specific timeline, but said ‘we need to finish the job.’
The White House has declined to comment.
In Tehran, defiant crowds gathered for the annual al-Quds Day rally to show support for the regime, with protesters burning US and Israeli flags and stomping on images of Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protesters marched on while plumes of smoke rose from explosions near the demonstration.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei, has made his first public message.
He vowed to continue attacks against US military bases in the region and to block the Strait of Hormuz, and to avenge the death of 175 children in the Minab school by an American missile.
Khamenei said: ‘We will not forgo avenging the blood of the martyrs. Every citizen killed by the enemy is a case for vengeance in itself.’
Concern is growing for the global economy and consumers’ wallets due to rising oil prices after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, handling around 20% of the world’s fuel trade.
Several tankers have been hit near the key passage and in the wider Persian Gulf.
The latest strike was yesterday when two tankers were destroyed by Iran.
The death toll from the Middle East conflict continues to mount, with the brunt of the war felt in Iran, while people have also been killed in Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf countries.
Iran’s representative to the United Nations said over 1,300 civilians have died in the country in airstrikes since February 28.
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