Trump claims Iran war could end in weeks as regional strikes escalate

Tehran shook under fresh explosions on Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared the war with Iran could be finished in two or three weeks. The conflict had erupted when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then rapidly metastasized into a regional war that sent oil and gas prices climbing and threatened the global economy. Trump's public posture on the fighting had swung between combative and conciliatory; late Tuesday he offered his most optimistic timeline yet. The White House announced he would deliver "an important update on Iran" to the nation Wednesday evening.

But Tehran said there were no negotiations underway, and that it had not engaged with a reported 15-point American proposal to end the war. The gap between Trump's confidence and Iran's denials left the actual state of diplomatic efforts opaque. Iranian state television reported that the capital was under attack Wednesday, with explosions heard across the north, east, and center. The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the strikes. Later, Israel said it was intercepting a missile attack from Iran, which medics reported had seriously injured an 11-year-old girl and wounded 13 others. Israel also said its air defenses were responding to a missile fired from Yemen—the third attack by Houthi rebels since they entered the war over the weekend.

The human toll had grown staggering. Thousands had been killed throughout the region; millions had been displaced from their homes. In Lebanon, seven people died in strikes in south Beirut and a nearby area, according to the health ministry. An AFP correspondent at the site described a blackened street littered with debris. A resident named Hassan Jalwan told the news agency that "displaced people have been sleeping in the open" in the area. Lebanon had been drawn into the war on March 2 when Hezbollah, backed by Tehran, launched attacks on Israel. Israel responded with broad strikes and a ground offensive that the Lebanese health ministry said had killed more than 1,200 people.

The war had pulled in American allies across the Gulf. Iran carried out retaliatory attacks on nations it claimed had served as launchpads for strikes. A Bangladeshi national was killed Wednesday by falling shrapnel from an intercepted drone in the United Arab Emirates. Kuwait's civil aviation authority reported that the country's international airport had been hit by Iranian drone attack, causing "a large fire" at its fuel tanks. Bahrain's interior ministry said a fire broke out at a business facility "as a result of the Iranian aggression." Saudi Arabia said several drones were "intercepted and destroyed." A tanker was hit in the waters off Qatar, a British maritime security agency reported, with some damage but no casualties. Near Iraq's Erbil international airport, which had faced regular attacks by pro-Iran groups, a 31-year-old truck driver named Waad Abdulrazaq told AFP: "Every day, we hear the sound of drones. We hear them in the morning, and we hear them at night. We can no longer sleep or live in peace."

Trump had threatened earlier in the week that if Iran did not agree to a deal, US forces would "obliterate" its oil wells, its main Kharg Island export terminal, and possibly water desalination plants. The United States had not disclosed who it was speaking with in Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that he still received messages from US envoy Steve Witkoff "directly, as before," but said this did not mean the two countries were in negotiations. "Whenever necessary we respond to these messages," Araghchi said in an interview aired Wednesday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the Islamic republic had the "necessary will" to end the war, provided its enemies guaranteed it would not restart. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Tuesday that the military campaign would continue. "We will continue to crush the terror regime," Netanyahu said on the eve of the Jewish Passover holidays, adding that it had "changed the face of the Middle East."

Oil prices tumbled after Trump's comments about ending the war, and stocks rallied in Europe and Asia. But Trump also said that France, China, and other countries seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz would have to "fend for themselves," lashing out at allies that had refused to help Washington's war effort. Iran maintained control of the strait, through which one-fifth of global oil normally passes. Rising fuel prices had become a political headache for Trump. At a gas station in Washington's suburbs, an 83-year-old woman named Jeanne Williams expressed dismay at the higher prices. "That is horrible," she said. Trump said he was not worried. "All I have to do is leave Iran," he told reporters. "And we'll be doing that very soon, and they'll come tumbling down."