Meanwhile, Turkey has lashed out at Israel for striking Syrian army camps in southern Syria, calling it a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d and urging the international community to intervene.<\/p>\n
Middle East war latest: Trump eyes end to Iran campaign as blasts hit Tehran. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Syria has so far avoided being dragged into the regional war that began on February 28 when Israel and the United States began striking Iran, which has hit back by firing ballistic missiles and drones at countries across the region.<\/p>\n
Lebanon has also been targeted by Israeli airstrikes against Iranian ally Hezbollah that have left more than 1000 people dead, according to the Lebanese health ministry.<\/p>\n
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States was \u201cgetting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n
The social media post was the strongest indication yet from the US President that he may be prepared to soon end hostilities.<\/p>\n
It came shortly after Trump told reporters at the White House he was not looking for a truce.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have won,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don\u2019t do a ceasefire when you\u2019re literally obliterating the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his post, Trump said other nations will have to take responsibility for securing the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, which has effectively been blockaded by Iran and through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas pass in peacetime.<\/p>\n
Oil jumped to US$112.19 a barrel as blasts hit Tehran and Gulf energy sites. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it \u2013 The United States does not!\u201d he said. \u201cIf asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn\u2019t be necessary once Iran\u2019s threat is eradicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also said the United States wants to talk to Iran but \u201cthere\u2019s nobody to talk to\u201d because of the killing of Iran\u2019s former Supreme Leader and other top officials.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s new Supreme Leader has not appeared in public since being named to succeed his father, Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
In a written statement to mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Mojtaba Khamenei said Iranians have \u201cdealt him [the enemy] a dizzying blow so that he now starts uttering contradictory words and nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, due to the particular unity that has been created between you our compatriots \u2013 despite all the differences in religious, intellectual, cultural and political origins \u2013 the enemy has been defeated,\u201d Khamenei said.<\/p>\n
The statement of defiance came as Iranians marked a muted Nowruz punctuated by the sound of loud blasts in eastern and northern Tehran.<\/p>\n
Shoppers were out in force buying new clothes and gifts, although pavements were less packed than usual for this time of year, with many people having fled north.<\/p>\n
Trump has repeatedly said he does not plan to send US ground troops into combat with Iran, but The Wall Street Journal today reported that an additional 2200-2500 US Marines were headed to the region.<\/p>\n
Trump would not confirm a report by the Axios news outlet that he was considering an occupation or blockade of Iran\u2019s Kharg Island oil hub to pressure Tehran to reopen the strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cI may have a plan or I may not,\u201d Trump said when asked by an AFP reporter.<\/p>\n
Iran has warned it will not tolerate more attacks on its oil infrastructure, while US President Donald Trump says he has no plans for boots on the ground at this stage. Photos \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
US forces hit Kharg with strikes that Trump said had \u201ctotally obliterated\u201d all military targets on the island, but Washington has so far avoided hitting its oil infrastructure.<\/p>\n
In Jerusalem, the Israeli military blamed \u201cIranian missile fragments\u201d for a blast that hit the Old City. It was not immediately clear if the missile had been intercepted or what its intended target was.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Iranian attacks continued on energy infrastructure in the Gulf.<\/p>\n
On Friday, drone attacks hit Kuwait\u2019s giant Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, causing a fire that was later brought under control, a day after a direct hit on Qatar\u2019s vital Ras Laffan natural gas facility.<\/p>\n
The attack caused \u201cextensive damage\u201d that Qatar\u2019s state energy company said could cost US$20 billion a year in lost revenue and take five years to repair.<\/p>\n
That could lead to high energy prices worldwide that outlast the conflict, increasing inflation and lowering economic growth.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meanwhile, Turkey has lashed out at Israel for striking Syrian army camps in southern Syria, calling it a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9092,3013,3467,40570,2178,6097,692,42,16609,185,134786,647,43,26859,3111,2572,23269,6122,3048,312,40249,9939,1865,40,38,41,39,2179,9938,3040,6149,79638,102],"class_list":["post-340744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-against","tag-but","tag-ceasefire","tag-considering","tag-donald","tag-down","tag-he","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-is","tag-islamic","tag-military","tag-news","tag-operations","tag-out","tag-president","tag-republic","tag-rules","tag-said","tag-says","tag-seeking","tag-states","tag-today","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trump","tag-united","tag-us","tag-war","tag-winding","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}