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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday the war with Iran is "going to get wrapped up soon," without saying how, as Qatari mediators returned to Tehran with revised proposals to end the eight-month conflict.
"We need a guarantee there’ll never be a nuclear weapon," Trump told Kansas City radio station KCMO ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Trump said the war would end "one way or another." "I didn’t start the war with Iran, they started the war with us," he said, adding, "They’ve been absolutely horrible to the world, they killed many Americans."
Trump has said the U.S. would not strike Iran before the elections.
Qatari mediators were in Tehran on Friday to convey the latest edits to a draft proposal to end the war, and there were indications of progress, a source familiar with the diplomacy told CBS News.
Iran is expected to respond by the weekend.
The delegation, led by a senior adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, will discuss bilateral relations and regional developments with senior Iranian officials, Iran’s IRNA news agency said.
The talks were coordinated with the U.S., an official told Reuters.
The push follows a letter from U.S. Vice President JD Vance to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei focused on a possible negotiating framework, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. Tehran received the message but had not responded, a senior Iranian official told Fars News Agency. Trump and Vance met Wednesday to discuss a possible gesture of goodwill toward Iran, such as sending humanitarian goods like food and medicine, according to a source familiar with the matter told Axios. Later in the day, Trump publicly backed the idea.
Earlier this week, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Qatar had brought only "unacceptable" ideas. Tehran wants the U.S. to lift its blockade of Iranian ports and drop sanctions on its oil and gas sales first.
"The mediation is at a very sensitive stage," a regional source told Axios.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two tankers using what it calls an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz "encountered incidents and were brought to a halt." It later said a supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil stopped after "striking a naval mine."
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a video that Iran’s navy is "all at the bottom of the sea" and that primary transit routes "remain free and clear."
The U.S. has helped Gulf partners export more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude since the summer, he said.
The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center said Thursday a tanker was struck by a projectile in the strait. It was unclear whether it was one of the vessels Iran reported.
Cooper also briefed President Donald Trump in person on Thursday on Iran military options, a rare White House visit as the U.S. weighs resuming major combat operations, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing U.S. officials and people with knowledge of the meeting.
"Trump wanted to hear directly from the CENTCOM head on whether the naval blockade is working," the U.S. official who spoke to Axios said.
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Meanwhile, the Pentagon added two noncombat deaths to its official casualty count, bringing U.S. service member deaths since the war began to 23. Eleven were killed by enemy fire.
The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Trump’s remarks that the Iran war will soon be "wrapped up" come as fears of renewed hostilities after the midterms persist.
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