'Hopefully we are towards end' of Iran war, Trump says
US President Donald Trump hopes an end to the war against Iran is near and a media report separately says he is expected to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss the conflict.
His comments on Wednesday come with the Iran war in its seventh month and with no immediate end in sight.
Axios reported late on Wednesday Trump's meeting with Gulf leaders next week in New York is expected to focus on US plans for a postwar strategy.
The report cited unnamed sources. It added that Trump will meet with leaders or foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
The State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
"Well, hopefully we are towards the end of the war," Trump told reporters earlier in the evening.
"They want to make a deal. We'll see how that works out," he said on Iran, reiterating past comments. Trump also said he had heard from Iran "directly," without elaborating.
Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the war that began on February 28 when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.
US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.
Trump has cited weakening Iran's nuclear capabilities as one of his war objectives. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and says its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes. The United States is nuclear-armed.
The rise in oil and gas prices due to the US-Israeli war on Iran has become a major issue for Trump's Republican Party in the lead-up to the November midterm elections.
In wider Mideast news, US officials met representatives of Yemen's Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter said, days after the Iran-backed militia seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in a sweeping offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces.
The meeting, which has not been made public, was held at the US Embassy in Muscat, three of the sources said on the condition of anonymity.
Two sources said Oman's government, a longtime regional mediator, helped organise the meeting.
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