Trump claims Iran president wants ceasefire; no response from Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump gives remarks during an executive order signing event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. EPA-Yonhap

Iran hit an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait’s airport on Wednesday, while airstrikes battered Tehran even as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was nearly ready to wind down the war and claimed that Iran's president wanted a ceasefire.

Iran had no immediate response to Trump's claim on social media that “Iran's New Regime President” was seeking a ceasefire, which Trump said would only happen once the Strait of Hormuz was “open, free, clear.”

It wasn't immediately clear who Trump was referring to in Iran, which still has the same president.

Trump, who is scheduled to address the nation later in the day, said he could walk away from the war in two to three weeks once he felt confident Iran would not be able to build a nuclear weapon — even if Tehran does not agree to a ceasefire.

That raised the possibility that the U.S. could withdraw without any guarantee from Iran that it would stop bombing its Gulf Arab neighbors or release its grip on the crucial Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through the strait in peacetime and Tehran’s stranglehold, along with its strikes on energy infrastructure in the region, has caused oil prices to skyrocket, with far-reaching consequences for the global economy. Even if the strait were to reopen quickly, some effects like higher food prices could persist for months or longer .

It’s also not clear what Israel, which began bombing Iran alongside the U.S. on Feb. 28, would do if the U.S. pulls out without a deal. It also leaves open the question of what Iran might do with the highly enriched uranium still in its stockpiles.