{"id":377485,"date":"2026-04-02T02:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/377485\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T02:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:08:11","slug":"trump-hints-at-quick-exit-from-iran-but-us-could-return-for-spot-hits-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/377485\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump hints at \u2018quick\u2019 exit from Iran but US could return for \u2018spot hits\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States<\/a> will be \u201cout of Iran<\/a> pretty quickly\u201d and could return for \u201cspot hits\u201d if needed, US president Donald Trump<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Trump also said Tehran was incapable of acquiring a nuclear bomb following attacks by the US and Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a separate social media post he said Iran\u2019s \u201cnew regime president\u201d has asked for a ceasefire, a claim denied by Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will consider [the ceasefire request] when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion, back to the Stone Age\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The US and Israel began the conflict<\/a> on February 28th. Iran\u2019s response has included a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments came hours before he was scheduled to make a prime time television address last night.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0UN peacekeepers in Lebanon were killed by roadside bombOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The US president said he would state in the speech that he is considering withdrawing the US from the Nato<\/a> alliance.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he said leaving Nato was \u201cbeyond reconsideration\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and [Russian president Vladimir ] Putin<\/a> knows that too, by the way,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Nato is just about us defending Europe if they\u2019re attacked, but them denying us when we need them, that\u2019s not a very good arrangement. That\u2019s a hard one to stay engaged in.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was reported late on Wednesday night Nato secretary general Mark \u200cRutte will visit Washington next week for what a spokesperson for the military alliance called a \u201clong-planned visit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can confirm that the secretary general will be in DC next week for a long-planned visit,\u201d Nato spokesperson Allison \u200cHart said. \u200cA White House official also confirmed the visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve \u200chad some very bad allies in Nato,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHopefully, we\u2019re never going to need them. I don\u2019t think we will need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about Trump\u2019s comments, British prime minister \u200cKeir Starmer<\/a> said he \u2060would act in \u2060Britain\u2019s interest, whatever the \u201cnoise\u201d.<\/p>\n

London will host a virtual meeting with some 35 countries on Thursday to discuss ways of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United Arab Emirates is pushing for the US to forcefully reopen the strategic waterway and is willing to assist in a military operation.<\/p>\n

\"AA resident weeps while talking on the phone near a residential building that was hit in an air strike in Tehran, Iran. Photograph: Majid Saeedi\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The report said the Gulf state is also seeking a United Nations<\/a> Security Council resolution that would authorise such an operation, as it faces continued Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n

Japanese \u200cprime minister \u2060Sanae Takaichi said she had agreed to \u200cco-operate closely with \u200cFrench president Emmanuel Macron to help open up \u2060the Strait, following talks between the two in Tokyo. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reiterated on Wednesday that the Strait will remain closed to \u201cenemies of this nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

There were heavy strikes on industrial plants in Tehran as fighting continued on day 33 of the war. Israel said it killed a commander in the Lebanese Corps of the IRGC\u2019s Quds Force in a strike the previous day in western Iran.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sally Hayden in Lebanon: War shatters health care and daily lifeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Israeli air force said it has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, and in recent days has focused on economic assets.<\/p>\n

As Israelis prepared for the one-week Passover festival, Iran fired its largest missile barrage in weeks. Most were intercepted but an 11-year-old girl was critically wounded by a cluster bomb in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak.<\/p>\n

Iran continued to attack Gulf Arab states. An oil tanker leased to the state-owned QatarEnergy was struck by an Iranian missile in Qatari territorial waters. Iranian drone strikes targeted key infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain, causing large fires. <\/p>\n

Amid the heightened tensions in the Gulf, Dubai-based \u200cairline Emirates \u200csaid \u2060Iranian nationals were not allowed to enter or transit the \u200cUnited \u200cArab Emirates.<\/p>\n

\"AA man carries his child as he walks past destroyed vehicles and debris at the site of an overnight Israeli air strike that killed seven people in Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday. Photograph: Chris McGrath\/Getty <\/p>\n

Fighting also continued in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Hizbullah\u2019s southern front commander, Haj Youssef Ismail, was killed in an Israeli navy strike in Beirut, the IDF said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Fighting reignited in Lebanon early last month after Hizbullah \u200claunched rockets \u2060at Israel. Since then, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon and Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,318 people, according to Lebanese authorities.<\/p>\n

Houthi forces in Yemen claimed responsibility for a missile attack on southern Israel on Wednesday morning- the third during the war \u2013 saying it was a joint operation with Iran and Hizbullah.<\/p>\n

The militant group threatened further escalation if Israel continued its attacks on Iran and Lebanon. \u2013 Additional reporting: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States will be \u201cout of Iran pretty quickly\u201d and could return for \u201cspot hits\u201d if needed,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,9146,42,123265,11829,3410,150432,1194,14396,43,3026,40,38,41,39,303,115,23242,5936],"class_list":{"0":"post-377485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-emmanuel-macron","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-hizbullah","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","15":"tag-keir-starmer","16":"tag-lebanon","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","19":"tag-top-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topnews","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-nations-un","26":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}