Trump says Iran war is militarily ‘effectively over’ after Qatar talks

So Donald Trump has just been saying that efforts to end the conflict with Iran are gaining momentum, and further military action may not be needed. He spoke hours after meeting Qatar's prime minister in Washington. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described his talks with Trump and with Vice President J.D. Vance as positive, and said he hoped they would help bring peace to the region. More oil has come out of the Strait over the last week than at any point in the history of the Hormuz Strait. So we're doing very well. But at this point, it won't be necessary. Taking the military action doesn't seem to be a very necessary thing. But we're locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason that changes. Israel and the entire Middle East are protected from Iranian danger and threats. And we're seeing momentum toward the end of this conflict. I think it's going to be ending fairly soon. Standing by for us in Washington, D.C., is our White House correspondent, Kimberly Halkett. That soundbite that we just played of the U.S. President, Kimberly, is very interesting, and it does sound a little different from what we've heard from him in the past. The big question post-midterms was, is Donald Trump going to go back to war against Iran? So lay it out for us, what is he saying about that? Right. Really, the whole world has been collectively holding its breath, particularly around the midterm elections, whether or not Donald Trump would keep his promise when he said he would not renew military strikes on Iran. And so there was hope. That he would keep his promise, but also skepticism. Well, the U.S. president surprised everyone by showing up in the briefing room, just giving about five minutes notice prior to standing at the podium, where typically we would see the press secretary in that White House briefing room to say that on the heels of that meeting with the Qatari prime minister, that he does believe there is no need for renewed strikes against Iran. Now, this is concurrent with a post by the Qatari prime minister that announced in advance of Donald Trump's appearance the fact that there was positive discussions that had taken place in order to reach a deal. So what came out of that meeting then? Important meeting because Qatar obviously is one of the key mediators in the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. They met Trump at the White House. It was a short while before what we're seeing now live on our screens, which is Donald Trump at the press briefing room still taking questions live. What came out of the meeting between Trump and the Qataris? Yeah, well, according to the White House, there wasn't a breakthrough. But clearly there was. And the U.S. president has described it as momentum. And we do know that the U.S. The White House believes that Donald Trump is the best messenger. So they obviously wanted the president to be able to make this announcement. And before I get to that meeting, I just want to quickly point out the wording the president said when he was asked, why not just end this conflict then if there is the momentum and it appears there's some deal on the horizon? He said the reason was because of the Gulf allies and the fact that he wants to ensure that they are safe. And that really speaks to. To your question about that meeting that took place with the Qatari prime minister and the U.S. president just hours earlier, we know that there had been discussions about a proposal that had been hand delivered by the Qatari prime minister from Tehran that would allow for, really, a ceasefire to go into place and, well, there's been no breakthrough announcement. What we're hearing in the headline is, is that there's the momentum towards just that. So, Kimberly, on that Iranian proposal, because that is interesting, Iran says, look, we have a proposal on the table that if the U.S. accepts Iran's conditions, then the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened within 48 hours, and this whole thing, the whole war could end within 48 hours. Again, it's contingent on the U.S. accepting Iran's demands. Has the U.S. rejected those, or as far as we know, are they still on the table? Are they still being discussed? Well, what from the president's own words, it has not been rejected. I'm not going to interrupt it. Sometimes you have to look at what's not being said in order to understand what is moving forward. And that would be the case here. The U.S. president didn't come out into the Brady briefing room and say we have flatly rejected this proposal. On the contrary, what we're hearing from the Qatari prime minister in his post is that he is grateful for the positive discussions on reaching a deal to bring peace to the region. Now, U.S. President Donald Trump hasn't said whether or not he accepted that two-day proposal to bring about a ceasefire. put forward by the Qatari Prime Minister from the Iranians, but he also didn't say that he rejected it. That means that the truth is somewhere in the middle. And from the president's own words, there is positive momentum, meaning that some sort of agreement has been reached and the details are still to be released. Kimberly, let me add something new to this conversation for both you and for our viewers. You will not have seen this yet. This is urgent and just coming through. To us, which is that Iran's top security official is saying, quote, it is time to surrender to the seven conditions that Iran has repeatedly set out. So this is exactly what we were discussing, Kimberly, that Iran has laid out conditions and they their position has been that if the U.S. accepts them, then within 48 hours, the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened. Um... The Iranian Iran's top security official now now sticking to his guns, no pun intended, saying this still has to happen, otherwise nothing moves forward. So to be clear on the American side, your reporting is that Donald Trump is saying they haven't they haven't rejected these conditions, but they also haven't accepted them. That is the the critical point here in all of this. And going into this press conference, impromptu press conference by Donald Trump, we do know that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who really looks at the fine points of all of these proposals and agreements, he was throwing water on the possibility that there would not be. Any sort of agreement. In fact, he said that the Iranian conditions were unacceptable. So clearly what we have going on here is good sentiment. Coming from the Qatari Prime Minister and the U.S. President following what we know has been a positive meeting. And sometimes that's all Donald Trump needs to try and move the bar. The question will become, though, in those details something the Secretary of State looks at on whether or not this is truly the breakthrough as the U.S. President hopes that it is. Kimberly, you're staying with me. I'm going to read the tweet now. I can put out the tweet of Iran's top security official. That's Dr. Mohsen Rezaei. He's the representative of the Supreme Leader at the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. Now, he says the war in Iran has already wrecked the U.S. government, but Washington flails like a desperate gambler. Fold your hand, capital letters. Stop manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks. Stop denying the West Asian new order. Time to surrender to the seven conditions that Iran has repeatedly set out. End quote, end tweet. This is coming from Iran's top security official. Kimberly Halkett is still with us. So Kimberly, it looks, look, your timing is impeccable. It looks like Iran is following very closely what is happening right now in Washington. It looks like they have read Donald Trump's social media posts. It looks like they have. Listen to what he has said to U.S. and international media. This reads very much like Iran's answer to Trump when Trump is saying, you know, we're locked and loaded, but hopefully I'm paraphrasing here, but hopefully we won't have to go back to war. The Middle East is protected from Iran's threats. They're saying they're saying, quoting them here, fold your hand, stop manufacturing fake news about imaginary talks, stop denying the new order. This is them saying that there is a new order in the Middle East, that they run it. And that essentially the region is going to have to play by their rules. They are pushing their advantage, it looks like. And this is what has been so problematic for the White House, is that this inevitability has been apparent to American voters and really the world for quite some time, that the global dominance that the U.S. enjoyed, particularly in the Middle East, is waning. And it's clear from that tweet that you just read out that There is a sense that Iran has come out on top, but whether or not the United States will surrender, a very interesting word choice, is up to the commander-in-chief, Donald Trump. And after having covered him for multiple terms, this being the second one, I can tell you that word alone will... prick his back and send shivers up his spine. There's no way that he would surrender. And so what I can tell you is that while the U.S. president believes there is hope, in real time, we're watching this back and forth between the United States and the Iranians. And it's clear that with each passing moment, that may appear to be less likely that there is a breakthrough. And Kimberly, something that I should have brought into this conversation earlier is the conditions. What conditions are we talking about? Iran? Iran has been demanding that the U.S. lift its naval blockade that it has imposed upon Iran for several months. It is demanding that the U.S. allow the sale of Iranian oil, which has been blocked as a function of the... economic warfare the U.S. is waging against Iran and as a function of the naval blockade. It is also demanding that the U.S. unfreeze frozen Iranian funds. So that's the gist of it. And also that the war end on all fronts. That is the vocabulary, the language that Iran has been using since the beginning, by which they mean that they also want Israel to stop fighting Hezbollah. So those are Iran's demands. And sorry, go ahead. Well, I was just going to say, and it's important to note that much of that was contained in the proposal that was put forward by the Qatari prime minister. The fact that he really put in place. A proposal that we understand was a two-day plan to bring about a ceasefire. And what we know is that it was a two-day sequence. On day one, the U.S. would lift its naval blockade. It would release some frozen funds. And in turn, Iran would allow inspectors in. To look at its nuclear facilities and day two, Iran would reopen the strait and that would pave the way for negotiations on the uranium stockpile enrichment that is in Iran. So clearly there has been some movement. But given the fact that Iran is now talking about an express seven points, it is unclear if the United States is willing to consider some of them or, as Iran is saying, all of them Okay, we're going to wrap this up for now, but I will point out, as our viewers can see, Donald Trump is still speaking live right now from the White House. This is the press briefing room. Kimberly was reporting that he actually came by surprise and started taking questions. What you have right now is, on the one hand, the president of the United States saying that he sees momentum towards ending the war, and he doesn't think that more kinetic action, more conflict will be necessary. It's what he wrote on his Truth Social. It's what he also said at this podium just a short while ago. And immediately, within moments, Iran's top security official responding, tweeting, it is time to surrender. We'll bring you more on all of that as we keep monitoring what's happening at the White House.